
Class _A^. rfl, %^- 



Book. 



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Copyiiglit:^^. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



ESSENTIALS IN 



CIVIL GOVE 



A TEXT-BOOK FOR USE IN 
SCHOOLS 



BY 



S. E. FORMAN, Ph.D. 




NEW YORK .- CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 






*\V 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JAN 6 1909 

Copyrifc-nt Entry ^ 
GLASS al XXc. No. 



Copyright, 1908, by 
S. E. FORMAN 



Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 



F. Civil Govt. 
W. P. I. 



PEEFACE 

Of the whole number of pupils who can study Civil 
Government with profit more than nine-tenths are in 
the two upper classes of the grammar schools and in the 
two lower classes of the high schools. In these classes 
there are more than a million young people who can be 
led into a just appreciation of the rights and duties of 
citizens. Here is a rich field for the sower, an opportunity 
vast in its proportions for improving the quality of Ameri- 
can citizenship and elevating the American electorate. 

The aim of this little book is to help those teachers who 
are trying to give the masses of their pupils sound and sys- 
tematic instruction in Civil Government: it is intended 
for use at the top of the grammar school and at the bottom 
of the high school. Its primary aim is not to teach facts. 
You cannot start young people on the road to good citi- 
zenship by gorging their minds with facts about govern- 
ment. The primary aim of the book is to establish political 
ideals and to indoctrinate in notions of civic morality. 

In the first few lessons (Lessons I-V) the pupil studies 
the little world in which he moves and has his being. He 
takeS'i^'peep at .his .-.own moral nature and he studies the 
governments of the home and of the school. Then he takes 
up the great subject "of citizenship (Lessons VI-XI) and 
learns of civic rights and civic duties. Lessons XII-XV 

3 



4 PREFACE 

treat of the powers of government. In these four lessons 
the great underlying principles of our government may be 
learned, and while studying them the pupil ought to catch 
something of the spirit of American government. ''The 
letter killeth but the spirit giveth life." With Lesson XVI 
the pupil begins to study the forms and workings of the 
larger governments. Lessons XVI-XX are given to local 
government, Lessons XXI-XXVI to State government and 
Lessons XXVII-XXXVI to the National Government. 
The subject of Taxation is treated in Lessons XXXVII- 
XXXVIII. 

Will the general teaching of Civil Government in the 
schools tend to elevate the citizenship of the masses? It 
will if a lesson in Civil Government is made a lesson in 
political ethics. Good citizenship is an affair both of the 
head and of the heart, and training in citizenship must 
quicken the conscience as well as inform the mind. In 
the preparation of this book this truth has never been 
lost sight of. Wherever it has been practicable I have 
tried to help the teacher to combine instruction in Civil 
Government with instruction in morals. 

S. E. FORMAN. 
Washington, D. C. 



CONTENTS 

LESSON I 

Government and Laws 11 

Meaning of the Word "Government" — The Study of 
Government — What Government Does for Us — Laws. 

LESSON II 

The Government of Self 15 

Self-Control — Self-Control can be Cultivated — The Re- 
ward of Doing Right — The Government of Self the 
Foundation of All Government. 

LESSON III 
The Family 19 

Husband and Wife; Marriage — Parents and Children — 
The Duties of Parents to Children — The Rights of 
Parents in Respect to Their Children — Importance of 
the Family Government. 

LESSON IV 

The Government of the School 24 

Pupils Should Know Something of School Government — 
School Officers — The Powers and Duties of School Offi- 
cers — The Teacher. 

LESSON V 

The Government of the School (Continued) ... 28 
Rules that Pupils Must Obey — Duties of Teachers and 
Pupils. 

5 



6 CONTENTS 

LESSON VI 

Citizenship : Who are Citizens 33 

Introduction — Meaning of the Word "Citizen" — Aliens — 
Naturalization. 

LESSON VII 

Citizenship : Civil Rights 37 

Civil and Political Rights — The Right to Personal Se- 
curity — Personal Liberty; Habeas Corpus — The Right 
of Private Property. 

LESSON VIII 

Citizenship : Civil Rights (Continued) 41 

The Right of Religious Freedom — The Right of Freedom 
of Speech — The Right of Freedom of the Press — The 
Right of Assembly— The Right of Petition— The Right 
of Protection in the Home — The Right of Due Process 
of Law — The Right to Equal Protection of the Laws — 
The Right of Protection on the High Seas and in 
Foreign Lands. 

LESSON IX 

Citizenship : Who are Voters 46 

The Right of Suffrage — Persons Who May Not Vote — 
Registration. 

LESSON X 

Citizenship : Elections 50 

At the Polls — Counting the Vote; Majority; Plurality — 
The Right of Holding Office. 

LESSON XI 

Citizenship : Duties of Citizens 55 

A Few Words about Duty — Obedience to the Law — 
Defense of One's Country — Earning a Living — The 
Duty of Studying Political Questions — The Duties of 
Voters. 



CONTENTS 7 

LESSON XII 

The Powers of Government : Majority Rule . . 60 
Introduction — The Power of the People — Democracy a 
Government of Reason — Democracy a Government of 
Justice. 

LESSON XIII 

The Powers of Government : Representation . . 67 
Pure and Representative Democracy — The Representa- 
tive's Term of Service — How a Fair Representation is 
Secured. 

LESSON XIV 

The Powers of Government : Checks and Balances 73 
Introduction — The Three Departments of Government — 
The Lower and the Upper House — The Veto P^wer — 
The Independence of the Departments. 

LESSON XV 
The Powers of Government: Local Self-Go vern- 

MENT . . r 80 

Introduction — The Three Grades of Government — The 
Relation of the Local Government to the State — Local 
Self-Government — The Services of Local Government. 

LESSON XVI 
The County 85 

Introduction — County Government Not Everywhere the 
Same — The County Seat — The County Commissioners 
or Supervisors — The Court Officials of the County — 
Other County Officials. 

LESSON XVII 
Town Government . 93 

Early Town Government in New England — The Town 
Meeting — Town Officers. 



8 CONTENTS 

LESSON XVIII 
The Township 99 

The Nature of Township Government — Township Meet- 
ings and Township Elections — Officers of the Township. 

LESSON XIX 
Municipal Government 103 

Why Municipal Government is Necessary — Village and 
Borough Government — The City Charter. 

LESSON XX 
Municipal Government (Continued) . . . . . . 109 

The Three Great Departments of City Government — 
The City Council — The Mayor; Municipal Executive 
Department — Services of City Government. 

LESSON XXI 
The State 116 

The Thirteen Colonies — The Thirteen Original States — 
The Admitted States — The Outlines of a State Govern- 
ment. 

LESSON XXII 

The State Constitution 120 

Meaning of the Word "Constitution'' — Description of a 
State Constitution — How the Constitution of a State 
is Made — How a Constitution is Changed. 

LESSON XXIII 
The State Legislature 125 

When and Where the State Legislature Meets — The Two 
Branches of the Legislature — Election of Members of 
the Legislature — Organization. 

LESSON XXIV 
The State Legislature (Continued) . . . . . .131 

How a Law is Made — The Initiative and Referendum — 
What the Legislature of a State May Do — Honest 
Men for the Legislature. 



CONTENTS 9 

LESSON XXV 

The Governor and His Colleagues 138 

The Governor — Other Executive Officers — Impeacliment. 

LESSON XXVI 

Judges, Juries, and Courts of Law 144 

The Judicial Department — The Justice of the Peace — 
The Circuit Court — The Supreme Court — Civil and 
Criminal Cases. 

LESSON XXVII 
The National Constitution 151 

Introduction — The Articles of Confederation — The Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1787 — Amendments to the 
Constitution. 

LESSON XXVIII 

Congress 156 

The Two Houses of Congress — The House of Representa- 
tives — ^The Senate — How a Law is Passed in Congress — 
The Power of Congress Limited. 

LESSON XXIX 

Congress (Continued) 162 

What Congress May Do — What Congress May Not Do. 

LESSON XXX 

The President; His Election 168 

Introduction — The Nomination of a Presidential Candi- 
date — The Election of the President— Inauguration. 

LESSON XXXI 

The President and His Cabinet ....... 175 

The Powers and Duties of the President — The Great 
Executive Departments — Cabinet Meetings — The Na- 
tional Civil Service; the Civil Service Commission — 
Salaries. 



10 CONTENTS 

LESSON XXXII 

The National Executive Departments .... 182 
Introduction — The Department of State — The Depart- 
ment of War — The Department of the Navy. 

LESSON XXXIII 

The National Executive Departments {Continued) 188 
The Department of Justice — The Department of the 
Treasury — The Post Office Department. 

LESSON XXXIV 

The National Executive Departments {Continued) 194 
The Department of the Interior — The Department of 
Agriculture — The Department of Commerce and Labor 
— Executive Work Outside the Departments. 

LESSON XXXV 

Territories and Dependencies 201 

Introduction — The Organized Territories — Alaska — Our 
Island Possessions — The District of Columbia. 

LESSON XXXVI 

The National Courts 206 

The Kind of Cases Tried in the National Courts — The 
Four Grades of National Courts. 

LESSON XXXVII 

Taxation: The Property Tax 212 

Introduction — Taxation a Power of the Lawmaking De- 
partment—The Property Tax— How Each Taxpayer's 
Share is Determined — The Collection of Taxes. 

LESSON XXXVIII 
Other Taxes 217 

The Income Tax — The Inheritance Tax — Licenses; Fees 
— Poll Tax — The Franchise Tax — Duties and Excises — 
Eminent Domain. 

Index 222 



ESSENTIALS IN CIVIL GOVERNMENT 



I. GOVEKNMENT AND LAWS 

" Order is Heaven's first law." 

Meaning of the Word " Government." — In the Latin 
language the word gubernator means a pilot, a steersman, one 
who guides; and from this word gubernator we derive our 
word governor. A governor, therefore, is one who guides 
something, and the word government means guidance or 
management. Thus when we speak of the government 
of a home, we refer to the management of the private 
affairs of the home; when we speak of the government of 
a State, we refer to the management of the pubhc affairs 
in the State. The word government wih be used a great 
many times in this book, and we shall learn that there are 
many kinds of government. We shall speak of '^self- 
government," of ''family government," of "school govern- 
ment," of "State government," of "national government." 
Wherever the word government occurs, it will mean guid- 
ance, management, control. 

The Study of Government. — You are now going to study 

the subject of government; that is, you are going to study 

11 



12 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 

how the affairs of mankind are managed; how men and 
women are guided in their journey through the world 
amidst other men and women; how society is held together 
and controlled. The study is of great importance, and 
should be of great interest, for the happiness of men de- 
pends largely upon the kind of government that guides and 
controls their lives. 

The study of government should interest children as 
well as men; for children, as well as men, are deeply affected 
by the government under which they live. In his earUest 
years the child is under the government of his parents. 
As soon as he is old enough he is sent to school, where a 
new government enters into his life and controls his ac- 
tions. He now lives under the government of the school, 
as well as under the government of the home. He must 
obey his teacher, as well as his father and mother. When 
he goes out into the streets, and parks, and fields, he finds 
that there is a third government to restrain him and reg- 
ulate his conduct. If he is very noisy, or if he runs upon 
flower beds in the park, or if he takes fruit from the or- 
chard of a stranger, he is promptly checked by a policeman 
or other officer, and may be punished for his offense. 
This third government which the child must obey is the 
government of the city, or of the State. 

And thus it is all through life; no matter where we go, 
or which way we turn, government always and everywhere 
follows us and regulates our actions. If the governments 
that control us are wise, and just, and kind, we are made 
happier by them; if they are harsh, or foolish, or tyranni- 



GOVERNMENT AND LAWS 13 

cal, our lives are made miserable by them. By studying 
and understanding the different forms of government un- 
der which we live we may prepare ourselves to make them 
better. 

What Government Does for Us. — ^You have but to 
look around you to see how great and how useful are the 
services of government. Government keeps peace and 
good order among men; it protects life and property; it 
punishes crime; it keeps an army and navy for the defense 
of the nation; it supports courts of law where men may find 
justice; it regulates commerce and industry; it coins and 
prints the money we use ; it collects and distributees our let- 
ters; it gives assistance to the poor and unfortunate; it 
cares for the public health; it supports the pubHc schools; 
it keeps the streets and roads in repair. Many other serv- 
ices of government might be mentioned, but these are 
enough to show you that we owe a great deal to government. 

Laws. — ^The rules that governments make to guide our 
actions are called laws. A law states what we are to do 
and forbids what we are not to do. When a law has been 
made it must be obeyed. No man can disobey a law with- 
out being liable to punishment for his disobedience. We 
may not like a law, we may think a law unjust or unwise, 
yet so long as it is a law we must obey it. Moreover, 
when a person violates a law, he is punished, even if he 
did not know there was such a law when he violated it. 
Ignorance of what the law is will excuse no one. Laws 
are made for the government of us all, and if we do not 
know what they are it is either our fault or our misfortune. 



14 



EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 



How laws are made and changed, and how people are 
forced to obey them, and punished for disobeying them, 
will be explained hereafter. At present it is enough to 
know that any government worthy of the name is always 
strong enough to enforce the laws that are made. It is 
the duty of all who live under a government to obey the 
laws of that government without being compelled to do so. 
If we think a certain law is bad, it is our right and our 
duty to try to have the law changed. Are you compelled 
to obey any laws that you think are unjust? 



QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. What is the meaning of the word governess^ governmental? un- 
governable? gubernatorial? 

2. Explain the use of the "governor" on a steam engine. 

3. Name the people whom you know to be officers of government. 

4. What would happen if people on the street were allowed to do 
just as they pleased? 

5. What is a hermit? 

6. Of the services of government mentioned in the lesson which 
stands first in importance? Which stands second? Which third? 
Which fourth? Give reasons. 




The Stocks — an Old-fashioned Punishment 



II. THE GOVERNMENT OF SELF 

" He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." — Bible. 

Self-Control. — Before you begin to study the different 
forms of government under which we Hve, I wish to call 
your attention to something that is at the foundation of all 
government. I wish you to think for a few moments upon 
the subject of the government of one's self, or self-control. 
You doubtless feel in yourself the power to control your 
own actions in many ways. You can be studioife, or you 
can be idle; you can be respectful, or you can be impu- 
dent; you can be kind, or you can be cruel. I think you 
will not deny that there is within yourself a government 
which controls your private actions; a will that directs 
the actions of your mind and body. 

We should constantly be asking ourselves whether our 
wills are carrying us in the right direction. True self- 
control consists in deciding to do what is right and doing 
it. Anger, appetite, laziness, envy, jealousy, pride, re- 
venge, tempt us to do wrong. Love, duty, conscience, 
whisper to us to do right. For which shall we decide — 
for the wrong or for the right? If we decide for the wrong, 
we may in the end become the slaves of our passions and 
be destroyed. For which, then, shall we decide? 

Self-Control can be Cultivated. — I believe you all think 

that you ought to control yourselves and do right, but 

15 



16 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 

some of you may feel unequal to the task of always doing 
right. Now, self-control lies in the will. If your will is 
strong, you will be able to govern yourself under the most 
trying circumstances; if it is weak, you will not. But 
remember this: A weak will can be strengthened by exer- 
cise, just as an arm can be strengthened by exercise. 

If a boy who has learned to smoke feels that smoking 
is injuring him, he should leave off the habit at once. 
When a cigar is offered to him he should refuse to take it. 
This may be hard to do at first. Let him refuse a second 
time and he will find it easier; a third time he will find it 
still easier. By continuing to refuse he will at last find 
that his desire to smoke is gone. His will conquers his 
appetite and he is master of himself. 

If a girl who indulges in the ugly habit of saying spiteful 
and untruthful things about her acquaintances becomes 
ashamed of herself and desires to do better, she should 
begin by exercising and strengthening her will. When 
she hears some one saying unjust things about another, 
instead of helping along with the abuse, she should keep 
silent, even if she must bite her tongue to do so. By re- 
fusing for a time to speak falsely or unjustly about people, 
she will find that it is not necessary to bite her tongue 
to prevent herself from joining in when she hears slan- 
derous remarks. She will probably be inclined to use her 
tongue either to rebuke the slander or to say something 
good about the person slandered. 

Young people will find that a strong will bent on doing 
right will carry them safely past temptation. 



THE GOVERNMENT OF SELF 17 

The Reward of Doing Right. — ^Thoughtless young peo- 
ple sometimes ask: ^'What is the use of doing right? 
What is the use of checking bad impulses and exercising 
self-control?" If you will look around you, and reflect 
upon what you see, you will find an answer to this ques- 
tion. You will find that the people who exercise control 
over themselves are happier than those who are carried 
along by passion and appetite. 

Sometimes, it is true, wicked and violent men seem to 
prosper and even to be happy. But they are not really 
happy. If you could learn the secret of their lives, you 
would find that bad, dishonest men lack one thing that is 
more precious than anything else in life. They may have 
wealth, and honor, and high social rank, but they have 
not their own self-respect, and no one can be truly happy 
without this. With self-respect one can never be thor- 
oughly unhappy. You may be unfortunate or unsuccess- 
ful; people may scorn you or neglect you, yet if you always 
firmly do the right thing, you will always have a good 
conscience and your own self-respect. 

The Government of Self the Foundation of All Govern- 
ment. — ^There is another reward for those who exercise a 
strict control over themselves. Their government of self 
makes them good citizens and fits them to take part in the 
government of others. A community is composed of indi- 
viduals, and the character of its government will be like 
the character of the individuals who compose it. If it 
contains a large number of rogues, swindlers, idlers, 

drunkards, then its government will certainly be bad, for 
F. Civil Govt.— 2 



18 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 

the government of a people is never much better than the 
people themselves. If a community consists of honest, 
industrious, moral citizens, then it will have a good gov- 
ernment. Good government begins with the individual, it 
begins with you personally. If you intend to take a part 
in public affairs when you grow up, and if you intend to 
help in making your government better, you should begin 
by trying to make a good man of yourself. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Learn the following facts about the will: 
(a) The will grows strong by exercise, 

(6) The will may be assisted by favorable surroundings. If you de- 
termine to leave off an old habit and form a new one, put your- 
self under favorable conditions, make new associations, avoid 
temptations, take advantage of every outward aid. — James. 

(c) The will should never lose a battle. 

{d) The will should act when it is called upon to act; it should 
never shun a battle. 

(e) We may strengthen the will by doing things now and then 
simply because we don't want to do them. 

2. Name the faults which stand opposed to each of the following 
virtues: courage, 'perseverance, industry, cheerfulness, simplicity, self- 
reliance, liherality. 

3. Arrange the following virtues in the order of their importance, 
placing the most desirable virtue first: temperance, truthfulness, fru- 
gality, prudence, honesty, modesty, unselfishness, patience, charitableness, 
reverence. Give reasons for your arrangement. 

4. Arrange the following faults in the order in which you dislike 
them, placing the fault you dislike most first: anger, stinginess, revenge, 
hypocrisy, tardiness, jealousy, self-conceit, envy, cruelty, stubbornness. 

5. Define conscience. When you do wrong, is it the fault of your 
conscience or of your will? How may the conscience be improved? 



III. THE FAMILY 

"There is in the family an angel possessed of a mysterious influ- 
ence of grace, sweetness, and love; an angel who renders our duties 
more cheerful and our sorrow less bitter. This angel is woman. 
Whether as mother, wife, or sister, woman is the joy of existence. She 
is a treasure of gentle consolation sufficient to soothe every sorrow. It 
is through woman that the family points to Eternity. Hold then the 
family sacred, my brothers. Reject every attempt to undermine it, for 
it is of God." — Mazzini. 

Husband and Wife ; Marriage.— The government that 
comes closest to the hves of young people is that of the 
family. At the head of the family stand the father and 
mother, who are united as husband and wife by marriage. 
Marriage is regarded by the law as a contract, but it is a 
very strong contract, and it ought to be a very sacred one. 
It is a contract that cannot be, and ought not to be, easily 
broken. Marriage is the bond which holds the family 
together, and it is of the utmost importance to us, both as 
individuals and as a people, that the family be held to- 
gether as firmly as possible. 

The blessings of the family as an institution ought to 
be ever before our eyes. In the family we grow in char- 
acter as we can grow nowhere else. In no other place can 
we learn the lessons of devotion and sacrifice and unselfish- 
ness that we learn in the home. Besides being a nursery 
of virtues and a source of happiness for its individual 
members, the family brings countless blessings to society 

19 



20 



EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 



at large. Indeed, we may say that the family is the 
foundation upon which all society rests. If you should 
destroy the family, you would destroy cities and States 
and governments and even civilization itself. And just 
as the family holds society together, so the marriage 
tie holds the family together. This great truth should 




never be forgotten. Nations have sometimes forgotten it, 
and they have always suffered for doing so. 

Parents and Children. — Parents regulate the conduct 
of children, support them, protect them, educate them. 
It is in the home, while members of the family, that chil- 
dren must look for their greatest happiness. The law 
that should govern, and that usually does govern, in the 
family is the law of love and duty. In the home there 
should be no force. Parents, as a rule, devote their lives 



THE FAMILY 21 

to the happiness of their children. What should children 
do in return? 

It has been found that parents are not always kind and 
loving and just towards their children, and that children 
are not always grateful and obedient to their parents. It 
sometimes happens that the parent or the child fails to do 
his duty. When this does happen, the government of the 
State steps in and commands what must be done. Let us 
learn something of the rights and duties which the law 
will not allow parents or children to disregard. 

The Duties of Parents to Children : 

(1) Support. — ^The first duty the parent owes to the 
child is to support it, to provide it with food, clothing, 
and shelter. If a father should be so hard-hearted as to 
turn his child out of doors and refuse to give it food, a 
stranger could take the child into his house and feed it 
and charge the father with the expense, and the law would 
compel the father to pay the bill. This duty of parents 
to support their children continues until the children are 
twenty-one years of age. After that time children may 
not look to their parents for support. It is not often that 
the law interferes with the parents in these matters; love 
alone is nearly always strong enough to hold them to their 
duty. 

(2) Education. — A second duty which parents owe to 
their children is to educate them. In many of the coun- 
tries of Europe, and in most of the States of our own 
country, parents are compelled by law to send their chil- 
dren to school. In every State schools are provided for 



22 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 

children free of cost, and parents are expected to send 
their children to them. 
The Rights of Parents in Respect to their Children. — 

Parents have not duties only; they have rights also. 

(1) Obedience.— They have the right to the obedience 
of their children. The child must obey its parents in all 
reasonable commands. If it refuses to obey, it may be 
punished in such manner as the parents think fit. The 
punishment, however, must be reasonable; it must be such 
as not to endanger the health of the child or injure it in 
mind or body. 

(2) Service. — Parents have the right to the service of 
their children. Until children are of age they must work 
for their parents if their parents need their service. If 
they earn wages, their parents have a right to take their 
earnings. 

(3) Assistance in Old Age. — If the parents are old and 
poor and unable to take care of themselves, their children 
may be compelled to assist them. Just as parents are 
compelled to support the child when it is young and help- 
less, so the child is compelled to support its parents when 
they are old and helpless. 

Importance of the Family Government. — ^The govern- 
ment of the family is the smallest of the governments that 
we shall have to study, but it is not the least important. 
A town or State is simply a number of families bound to- 
gether, and if all the families of a town or of a State were 
well governed, there is no doubt that the town or the State 
itself would be well governed. You see how important, 



THE FAMILY 23 

then, it is that we should do all in our power to make our 
homes what they should be. Children can serve their 
country simply by doing their duty in their homes. They 
can repay the love and sacrifice of their parents by loving 
and unselfish deeds. Brothers and sisters may bless their 
homes by living at peace with one another. We should 
never forget that the law of the home is the law of love, serv- 
ice, and sacrifice, 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. What is the average number of persons in a family in your neigh- 
borhood? (Find the number of persons in the famihes of your ac- 
quaintance and divide this number by the number of famih^.) 

2. Are parents responsible for the actions of their children? 

3. Who is the most unselfish member of the home? 

4. Is it a kindness for parents to live beyond their means for the 
sake of their children? 

5. Name some bad habits that children are guilty of in their homes. 

6. What sacrifices do parents make in order that their children may 
be kept at school? 

7. How may parents be repaid for these sacrifices? 

8. Make out a list of those virtues that are good for the home. 

9. (Not to be answered in the class but to be answered silently.) 
Are you doing what you can to make your home happy? Are you 
allowing jealousy to enter into your home life? Are you as unselfish 
in your home as you should be? Are you tyrannical and willful in your 
actions? 



IV. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL 



"The school should be pervaded by a spirit of honesty and truth- 
fulness. It should inspire its pupils with a manly resistance to all 
temptations to deceive or be false." — E. E. White. 

Pupils Should Know Something of School Government. 

— For several years you have attended school, and while in 
school you have found that you are under a government; 

that you cannot do 
as you please; that 
teachers and school 
officers regulate your 
conduct in many 
ways. This gov- 
ernment of the 
school, in the lives 
of young people, is 
next in importance 
to the government 
of the family. The 
present happiness, as well as the future welfare of pupils, 
depends in a large degree upon how the school which they 
attend is governed. Pupils, therefore, should understand 
something of the nature of school government. If you 
will study this subject carefully, you will understand your 

teachers better, and your school life may thereby be made 

24 




A Schoolhouse 



THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL 25 

pleasanter. Very frequently trouble arises in a school- 
room merely because the teacher and the pupils do not un- 
derstand each other. 

School Officers. — ^At the head of the school is a body of 
officials whose duty it is to appoint the teacher and super- 
vise the affairs of the school. This governing body may 
control only the one school, or it may control several. It 
is known by different names in different States. In some 
States it is called the School Committee; in others, the 
Board of School Trustees, or the Board of School Directors, 
or the Board of Education. In a few States it is called the 
Board of School Visitors. The governing body is either 
elected by the voters of the district or is appointed by 
some other authority. In all the States every public school 
has a set of officers, — whatever they may be called, — who 
exercise a very close and a very complete direction of its 
affairs. In other words, every school has its governors and 
its government. 

The Powers and Duties of School Officers. — ^The school 
officers have at their disposal for school purposes a cer- 
tain amount of money raised by taxation. With this 
money they pay the salary of the teachers, build and re- 
pair schoolhouses, furnish the schools with fuel, furniture, 
maps, books, and other supplies. They make rules for the 
government of teachers, and sometimes declare what stud- 
ies shall be taught. They may make rules for the govern- 
ment of pupils if they choose to do so, although generally 
they allow the teachers to make such rules. In all im- 
portant matters relating to the school the teachers must 



26 E VERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 

consult the school officers. For example, a teacher may 
send an unruly pupil home for a short time, but he seldom 
has the power to expel the pupil; that is, it is only the 
school officers who may take away from the pupil entirely 
the right of coming to the school. These officers determine 
the hours of opening and closing school ; they fix the lengths 
of recesses; they decide when a holiday may be given; 
they care for the health of the pupils. Thus we see that 
they play a most important part in the government of the 
school. 

The Teacher. — Next to the school officers in the gov- 
ernment of the school comes the teacher. So far as the 
pupils are concerned, the teacher is the real head of the 
school. The duty of the teacher is twofold, — he must 
teach, and he must govern. As there can be no good 
teaching where there is not good government, the teacher 
must make every effort to secure obedience and good 
habits in his pupils. In order to do this, he usually makes 
a set of rules for the guidance of the school. If these 
rules are just and reasonable, the pupils must obey them. 
If a pupil refuses to obey a proper rule, he may be pun- 
ished for his disobedience; if he persists in disobeying, he 
may be expelled from the school. 

What are some of the rules that a teacher may make 
and that pupils must obey? In the next lesson I shall men- 
tion a few of those rules that judges in courts of law have 
found reasonable and have upheld teachers in enforcing. 
The rules that will be mentioned are such as no pupil can 
safely disobey. 



THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL 27 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. What is the governing body of your school called? How is it 
chosen? What are the names of its members? Make out a list of its 
powers. 

2. Do you know the boundaries of your school district? Draw a 
map of the district, locating the schoolhouse. 

3. May a pupil hving in one school district attend school in an- 
other? 

4. In some States women may serve as school officers. Do women 
serve as school officers in your school district? 

5. Draw up a formal petition asking your School Board or Commit- 
tee to purchase something that your school needs. 

6. Is a pupil on his way to or from school under the government of 
the school or under the government of his parents? 



V. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL {Continued) 

"The seven cardinal virtues of the school are regularity, punctu- 
ality, neatness, accuracy, silence, industry, and obedience." 

—E. E. White. 

Rules that Pupils Must Obey : 

Rule I. Pupils must not he tardy. — ^'Tardiness is 
a direct injury to the whole school. The confusion of 
hurrying to seats, gathering together of books, etc., by 
tardy ones, at a time when all should be at study, cannot 
fail to impede the progress of those who are regular and 
prompt in attendance. The rule requiring prompt and 
regular attendance is demanded for the good of the whole 
school. It is therefore a rule for the government of the 
school, and must be regarded as proper and reasonable." 

Rule II. Pupils must conduct themselves properly while 

at school. — "Henry H was expelled from school by 

the Committee of Rockport, M , for acts of misconduct, 

which consisted of whispering, laughing, acts of playful- 
ness and rudeness to other pupils, inattention to study, 
and conduct tending to cause confusion and distract the 
attention of other scholars from their studies and reci- 
tations." Henry thought the expulsion was unjust, and 
brought suit against the Committee. The judge who tried 
his case thought that the boy was justly expelled, and 
decided in favor of the Committee. 

28 



THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL 29 

Rule III. Pupils should he regular in attendance. — 
Pupils may be forbidden to remain absent from school 
without a satisfactory excuse. They may be required to 
bring written excuses for absence. On this rule a judge, 
delivering an opinion in court, said: '' Continued or re- 
peated absences of one of a class are not only injurious to 
the absentee but, if allowed beyond a certain point, are 
calculated to demoralize those who attend and derange the 
orderly instruction of the teacher." Notice that the judge 
was not so much interested in the boy who was absent as 
he was in the pupils who were regular in their attendance. 
It is the welfare of a whole school, and not the welfare of 
a single person, that must be considered when nuking a 
rule for the government of pupils. In what ways does 
absence interfere with the general work of the school? 

Rule IV. Pupils must not play truant. — When a 
child that has been sent to school by its parents does not 
come to school, it commits truancy, and this is an offense 
against good school government. In some States and in 
many cities truant officers are employed to follow up 
truants and bring them to school. Truancy is a grave 
fault, and pupils who commit it are liable to find them- 
selves in serious trouble. A judge in a court of law is 
usually severe with truants. What does the truant lose 
by remaining away from school? What does the school 
lose? 

Duties of Teachers and Pupils. — ^The few rules that 
have been given are such as have been found , neces- 
sary in all schools. In all schools children must be punc- 



30 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 

tual, they must be obedient, they must be regular in their 
attendance, they must not play truant. Many other rules 
might be mentioned, but more are not necessary. After 
all, a school is not made good by rules. A good school is 
one in which both teachers and pupils try day by day to 
do their duty. What is meant by duty? What is it to do 
one's duty? You do your duty when you do what your 
conscience tells you is right. Try to find out what is 
right, and when you have decided what is right, act for 
the right, and you have done your duty. It is sometimes 
hard to tell what is right and what is wrong, but some 
things are pretty clear. 

It is perfectly clear that it is the duty of the teacher to 
do the following things: 

(1) To prepare himself thoroughly in the subjects that 
he teaches. 

(2) To work hard for the advancement of all his pupils. 

(3) To treat his pupils with respect and kindness, and 
to extend to them, whenever he can, help and sympathy. 

(4) To set an example of right living. A bad man 
cannot be a good teacher. 

(5) To be punctual. A teacher cannot expect his pupils 
to be prompt if he allows himself to be tardy. 

(6) To be careful of his own health and of the health 
of his pupils. 

(7) To train his pupils in such habits as will make good 
men and women of them. 

These are a few of the duties of a teacher. Your teacher 
has doubtless thought much upon the subject of his duty, 



THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL 31 

and has perhaps read books upon the subject. It would 
not be strange if you have thought very httle of your 
duty; yet as pupils you have your duties, and you ought 
to learn what they are and try to fulfill them. A few of 
the most important duties of pupils are: 

(1) To obey cheerfully the four rules that have been 
stated. 

(2) To avoid wasting their own time or the time of 
their fellow-pupils by whispering, passing notes, or mak- 
ing unnecessary noises in the schoolroom. 

(3) To be kind and respectful to. their teachers and 
schoolmates. 

(4) To be truthful in all things. v 

(5) To be loyal to the school and to support the teacher 
in his efforts to improve it. 

(6) To be neat and clean in dress and person. 

(7) To avoid speaking ill of their classmates. 

(8) To avoid slandering or misrepresenting the teacher. 

(9) To avoid bearing tales. 

(10) To refrain from cutting, marking, injuring, or de- 
facing school property. 

(11) To obey all signals promptly. 

(12) To conduct themselves properly on the way to 
and from school. 

There are, of course, other duties besides those men- 
tioned above. In the schoolroom, as elsewhere, there 
are constantly arising questions of duty that can be set- 
tled only by taking into consideration particular facts and 
circumstances. In all cases, however, the rule is the 



32 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 

same: Do rights forget self, and do what your conscience 
tells you to do. By following the path of duty a pupil 
will help to make his school what it ought to be — a place 
where the minds and hearts of boys and girls are trained 
for the highest manhood and womanhood. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. From the list of duties of pupils given in the lesson a most im- 
portant duty is omitted. What is the duty? 

2. Make a list of duties that parents owe to the school. 

3. Make a list of duties that teachers owe to parents. 

4. Name the qualities that teachers like in pupils. 

5. Name the qualities that pupils like in teachers. 

6. When things go wrong with pupils at home, do they ever take 
their spite out in the schoolroom? 

7. What does the word impartial mean? Can a teacher be per- 
fectly impartial? 

8. In your conduct towards your teachers and schoolmates, do 
you follow the ''golden rule"? 

9. Discuss "cheating" and "copying." 

10. Name some of the benefits of education. 



VI. CITIZENSHIP: WHO ARE CITIZENS 

" The ideal citizen is the man who believes that all men are brothers, 
and that the nation is merely an extension of his family, to be loved, 
respected, and cared for accordingly." — Habberton. 

Introduction, — We have studied the government of the 
family and the government of the school, and have learned 
something of the rights and duties of the members of a 
household, and also something of the rights and duties of 
pupils and teachers. The governments that we shall study 
hereafter are those that we meet outside of the family 
and school. They are governments that include a much 
larger number of people than either the family or the 
school. A family seldom consists of more than a dozen 
persons, while the school seldom numbers more than sev- 
eral hundred pupils. But the larger governments that 
you will be interested in when you go out from school con- 
sist of many thousands, and some of them of millions, of 
people. They are governments, therefore, far more diffi- 
cult to understand than that of the family or the school. 

We shall be able to understand the workings of the 
larger governments better if we first learn something about 
the subject of citizenship. Since this is a very great sub- 
ject it will take several lessons to dispose of it properly. 

Meaning of the Word " Citizen." — Let us begin our 
study of the great subject of citizenship by trying to 
learn what is meant by the word citizen. In the strict 
F. Civil Govt.— 3 33 



34 CITIZENSHIP 

meaning of the word a citizen used to be one who had the 
rights and privileges of an inhabitant of a city; but the 
word now means more than this. A citizen is one who has 
the rights and privileges of the inhabitants of a State 
or nation. As a member of the family you have certain 
rights and duties under the family government; as a 
member of a school you have certain rights and duties 
under the government of the school; and so, as one of the 
inhabitants of a nation, you have certain rights and duties 
under the government of that nation. 

Any one born in a country is a citizen of that country. 
If you were born in the United States, you are a citizen 
of the United States. The rank of citizen does not belong 
to grown men alone, for women and children are as truly 
citizens as men are. To be a citizen is simply to be a 
recognized member of a community, and one test of such 
membership is birth within the community. 

Aliens. — But there are many people among us who 
were not born in the United States. Thousands come to 
our shores every week from foreign countries. A foreigner 
is a citizen of another country, and is for that reason called 
an alien, a word which means another. Aliens have not so 
many rights and privileges as citizens have. As a rule they 
are not allowed to vote, and in some States they are not 
allowed to hold land in their own names. As they are citi- 
zens of another country it is not just that they should 
share all the privileges of citizens of this country. A per- 
son cannot be a citizen of two different countries at the 
same time. 



WHO ARE CITIZENS 



35 



Naturalization. — Many of the aliens living among us con- 
tinue to be citizens of the country in which they were born. 
Yet if they so desire they can be naturalized, that is, they 
can be made citizens of our country by a process of law 
called naturalization. Before an alien can be naturalized, 
he must have lived five years in this country. 

An alien who wishes to be naturalized must first go into 
some court of law and declare upon oath before a judge that 




Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island, New York 

he intends to become a citizen of the United States. This 
is called ''declaring his intention." Not less than two 
years nor more than seven years after he has declared 
his intention, the alien must again appear in court and 
swear that he renounces forever all allegiance to any 
foreign country and especially to the country of which 
he is at the time a citizen. He must also swear to sup- 
port the Constitution of the United States. If the judge 
finds that the alien is able to speak the English language 
and write his own name, that he has resided in the United 



36 CITIZENSHIP 

States for five years, and that he is a person of good moral 
character, the ahen will then be declared to be a citizen 
of the United States and will have the same rights as 
native-born citizens, except that he can never become the 
President or Vice President of the United States. 

There are certain classes of aliens who are not allowed 
to be naturalized, no matter how long they may live here. 
Alien Chinese and Japanese cannot be naturalized and 
therefore cannot become citizens of the United States. 
Anarchists — persons opposed to all forms of organized 
government — are also refused the gift of naturalization. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. What is the difference between a citizen and a subject? 

2. What is an immigrant? An emigrant? 

3. What is meant by the word allegiance? 

4. What body makes the rules governing the process of naturaUza- 
tion? (Examine the Constitution of the United States, a copy of 
which you will doubtless find in your school history, Art. 1, Section 8, 
Clause 4.) 

5. Do you think these rules are wise and just? Would it be right 
to require that aliens, before they are naturalized, should be able to 
read the Constitution that they swear to support? 

6. What is meant by the word expatriation? Should a person be 
allowed to expatriate himself in time of war? 

7. Are there many foreigners (aliens) in your neighborhood? If so, 
of what countries are they citizens? 

8. Would you make it easier or more difficult for foreigners to be 
naturalized? 



VII. CITIZENSHIP: CIVIL RIGHTS 

"What is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is folly, 
vice, and madness." — Edmund Burke. 

Civil and Political Rights. — We shall now learn of 
those rights of which American citizens are so proud. 
The rights of the citizen may be divided into two classes: 
(1) his civil rights, and (2) his political rights. Civil rights 
are those that are enjoyed by all citizens, whether men, 
women, or children. Political rights are such as adult citi- 
zens have of sharing in government. Thus the^ight to 
vote and the right to hold office are political rights. In 
this lesson and in the next we shall learn of civil rights. 
Nearly all civil rights are possessed by aliens as well as by 
citizens. 

The Right to Personal Security is the right to be secure 
from injury to body or to health. If a person is attacked, 
if violent hands are laid upon him, he can call upon the gov- 
ernment to defend him. Policemen, sheriffs, and constables 
are employed at public expense to secure citizens from 
harm. If a citizen is attacked, and he cannot get the im- 
mediate aid of an officer, he has the right to defend himself. 
If a burglar breaks into a house at night, the occupant of the 
house, in defense of himself and family, may lawfully kill 
him. If a citizen is threatened harm by a person, he may 
have the one who threatens him taken before a magistrate 

and bound with sureties to keep the peace. If the health 

37 



38 CITIZENSHIP 

of citizens is threatened by some nuisance, as by poisonous 
fumes from a factory, or by a careless accumulation of filth, 
the citizens may call upon the government to have the 
nuisance removed or abated. In these and in many other 
ways the government cares for the personal safety and 
happiness of the citizen. 

Personal Liberty ; Habeas Corpus. — Another right that 
all citizens enjoy is the right of personal liberty. By this 
is meant the right to move about freely from place to 
place without hindrance, to choose a place of residence, 
and to engage in whatever occupation one may see fit. 
Of course while you are under the charge of your parents 
you cannot enjoy this right so fully as you will when you 
shall come of age. 

The right of personal hberty is one of the most valuable 
rights that free men possess. In olden times a powerful 
man could throw a humble man into a dungeon and 
keep him there as long as he desired. In our day such a 
wrong cannot be inflicted upon a citizen. No citizen in 
this country may be imprisoned by a private person, nor 
may any one be imprisoned at all without just cause. If 
a person is thrown into prison, or is put into confinement 
against his will, he has the right to a writ of habeas corpus. 
Every one should know something of this famous writ, for 
it is the greatest safeguard of personal liberty. 

Let us see what the writ of habeas corpus is and what it 
does for the citizen. Suppose you are thrown into prison 
unjustly, or that you are confined in some place against 
your will; how shall you get out? Somebody who is in- 



CIVIL RIGHTS 39 

terested in you, perhaps it will be a lawyer, will go at onoe 
to a judge of a court and ask that you be taken out of 
prison immediately and brought before a judge in order 
that your case may be heard. The judge is bound to 
grant this request; he is bound to have you brought be- 
fore him at once. He at once issues a writ of habeas cor- 
pus. This writ is an order to the sheriff, or whoever it is 
that is keeping you in confinement, to bring you before the 
court. When you are brought before the judge, if it is 
found that you are wrongfully confined, you are restored 
to your freedom. If the judge should find that there is 
good, reason for believing you have committed a crime, he 
will send you back to jail to await a regular tri^l. Thus 
we see that the writ of habeas corpus gives quick relief to 
a person who has been unjustly imprisoned. In times of 
war or great public danger, this writ may be suspended, 
and when it is suspended a citizen may be confined in 
prison for no cause whatever. 

The Right of Private Property. — A citizen has the 
right to hold property in his own name, and the govern- 
ment must protect him in the enjoyment of this property. 
If any one attempts to deprive a man of something that he 
lawfully owns, the government will come to the aid of the 
owner and will punish the offender. If a mob burns down 
a house, or in some other way destroys property, the local 
government can sometimes be compelled to make good 
the loss to the owner. It is the duty of the government 
to protect property, as it is the duty of the government to 
protect life and liberty. 



40 CITIZENSHIP 

Besides the right to enjoy in peace the property one 
owns, one has the right to acquire more property by 
labor or by trade or by the exercise of one's talents. 
This right of acquiring property is sometimes abused. In 
the pursuit of wealth a man has no moral right to disre- 
gard the just rights of others. Too often men think only 
of themselves and do not hesitate to take for themselves 
what in strict right belongs to some one else. But no 
truly good citizen will do this. A good citizen will follow 
the rule; Render unto others their due. We cannot all 
be rich, but we can all be honest and just. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Read Green's "Short History of the Enghsh People," chapter III, 
and prepare a composition on "King John and the Great Charter." 

2. What do the words habeas corpus mean? What does the constitu- 
tion of your State say about the writ of habeas corpus? 

3. A farmer shot and seriously injured a boy who was in his tree 
stealing chestnuts. Ought the farmer to have been punished for this 
act? 

4. What rights are declared in the Declaration of Independence? 



VIII. CITIZENSHIP: CIVIL RIGHTS (Continued) 

"Liberty is part of the precious heritage which our God brought 
down with him from heaven to the earth and left to us, his sons. Let 
no one therefore marvel that we should hold it beyond all price, dearer 
to us than our lives." — Cardinal Gibbons. 

The Right of Religious Freedom.— The American citi- 
zen is free to worship God according to the dictates of his 
own conscience. In many of the countries of the world 
the citizens are compelled to help in the support of some 
particular church known as the EstabHshed Chwrch, but 
in the United States the government has nothing what- 
ever to do with religion. You can choose your own church 
and can give towards its support as much or as little as 
it suits you to give. You may beUeve and worship as you 
please without losing any of your rights as a citizen, 
although in a few States a person must believe in a God 
or he will not be allov/ed to hold certain offices. Perhaps 
there is no country in the world where the citizens enjoy 
greater freedom in religious matters than is enjoyed in 
America. 

The Right of Freedom of Speech. — As a citizen you are 
free to speak and write on any subject, but you must not 
abuse this right. If you slander a person, you take from 
him his good name, and that is much worse than it would 
be to take from him his coat or his watch. So our free- 
dom of speech will not permit us to slander our neighbor 

41 



42 CITIZENSHIP 

or talk about him in such a way as to lower his standing 
in the community. The government will defend a person's 
reputation as faithfully as it defends a person's property, 
and it will punish slander as quickly as it will punish 
theft. 

The Right of Freedom of the Press — Along with the 
right of free speaking goes the right of free printing. A 
citizen is free to print and publish his sentiments and 
thoughts on any subject, and no law will take this right 
away from him. But here again the privilege must not 
be abused. If a person publishes false and malicious state- 
ments about another he is guilty of an offense known as 
libel, and the laws will punish libel as well as slander. 
Very often the newspapers in their criticisms of people 
go too far, and sometimes it seems that the freedom of the 
press is really a bad thing. But as a matter of fact our 
free press, in spite of its shortcomings, is one of our great- 
est blessings. If we should take away from the newspapers 
their freedom to print what they please, we should do great 
harm to all kinds of freedom. A free press means a free 
country. 

The Right of Assembly.— American citizens have the 
right to come together and discuss in public such ques- 
tions as they may care to discuss. At their meetings the 
people are free to express their views and declare their 
purposes fully and freely. Pubhc meetings, however, must 
not be violent or disorderly, and they must not lead to 
violence or lawlessness. If a number of citizens should 
come together for the purpose of making plans to over- 



CIVIL RIGHTS 43 

throw the government, the police would interfere and 
break up the meeting. 

The Right of Petition. — A citizen has the right to be 
heard on all questions concerning the public welfare. If 
you think a certain law ought to be passed you have a 
right to ask the lawmaking body to pass it. If you think 
the government should follow a certain course of action 
you have a right to make known your wishes and desires 
to the officers of government. In making your petition, 
however, you must be quiet and peaceable and must do 
nothing disorderly and unlawful. 

The Right of Protection in the Home. — ^The American 
citizen is protected in the enjoyment of his h(^e. No 
soldier in time of peace may be quartered in any house 
without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war ex- 
cept in a lawful manner. Soldiers, in other words, are not 
allowed to enter a home and disregard its sacred privi- 
leges. 

Nor may officers of government disregard the sacred 
character of the hom.e. People are secure in their homes 
against unreasonable searches, and no officer may enter 
a house for the purpose of searching it unless he has a 
warrant written out by the proper magistrate. And no 
magistrate is allowed to issue a warrant for searching a 
man's house unless there is good evidence to show that 
the house ought to be searched. There are times, it is 
true, when a man's house may be entered without a writ- 
ten warrant, as v/hen a cry of murder is heard within, 
or when it is known that a criminal is concealed within, 



44 CITIZENSHIP 

but, generally speaking, a man's house is his castle and 
no person ^lay enter that castle without a proper war- 
rant. 

The Right of Due Process of Law. — No citizen of the 
United States can be deprived of his life, his liberty, or his 
property without due process of law. What is meant by 
due process of law is not very easy to learn, for each of the 
States has its own law, and what is due process in one 
State may not be due process in another. Still if you will 
read carefully the fifth, sixth, and eighth amendments to 
the Constitution of the United States you can form a very 
good notion of the rights that come to you through the 
right of due process of law; for there are similar provisions 
also in the constitutions of the States. According to these 
amendments — 

(1) A person accused of crime must first be indicted 
by a grand jury and then be tried by a petit jury.^ 

(2) A person shall not be tried twice for the same of- 
fense. 

(3) A person shall not be compelled to be a witness 
against himself. 

(4) A person accused of a crime must be informed of 
the nature and cause of the accusation, must be brought 
face to face with his accusers, must have power to bring 
into court witnesses in his favor, and must have a lawyer 
to defend him. 

(5) Excessive bail ^ shall not be required, excessive 

^ The jury system is explained on pages 146-148; bail on page 
145. 



CIVIL RIGHTS 45 

fines shall not be imposed, cruel and unusual punishments 
shall not be inflicted. 

The Right to Equal Protection of the Laws. — The gov- 
ernment in its dealing with persons must treat all alike. 
It must not make fish of one and fowl of another. All 
persons, whether they be black or white, rich or poor, hum- 
ble or high, citizen or alien, are equal in the eye of the law 
and must receive the equal protection of the laws. 

The Right of Protection on the High Seas and in For- 
eign Lands. — In whatever part of the world an American 
citizen may go, whether he is out on the ocean or in China 
or Persia or Denmark, his citizenship goes with him to 
protect and defend him. When you are in I foreign 
country you must abide by the laws of that country, but 
if the government of a foreign country should treat you 
unjustly the United States would stretch out its powerful 
arm to protect you. 

EXERCISES 

1. Memorize: 

Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, 
Is the immediate jewel of their souls; 
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; 
But he that filches from me my good name 
Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed. — Shakespeare. 

2. Read Green's "Short History of the Enghsh People," chapter VIII, 
and write a composition on "King Charles I and the Rights of the 
People." 

3. Make out a list of the rights of citizenship mentioned in Les- 
sons VII and VIII; arrange these rights in the order of their imporr 
tance, placing the most important right first. 



IX. CITIZENSHIP: WHO ARE VOTERS 

"Voters are the uncrowned kings who rule the nation." — Morgan. 

The Right of Suffrage.— Civil rights, we have learned, 
are those rights enjoyed by all citizens, old and youngs, 
rich and poor, educated and ignorant. Political rights are 
enjoyed only by those citizens who are old enough and 
wise enough to exercise them properly. 

The greatest political right of citizens is the right of 
suffrage. The word suffrage is derived from a Latin word 
which originally meant a piece of a broken pot; for in olden 
times a man was voted for by casting for him potsherds, or 
pieces of broken pottery, instead of ballots. The right of 
suffrage is the right of voting. Voters are sometimes called 
electors, that is, choosers. To vote is to express a choice for 
this or that man for an office, or for the enactment of this or 
that law. 

What citizens are voters or electors? Answers to this 
question will be different in the different States of the 
Union, for the right of voting is given by the State. In 
every State, however, there are certain qualifications, cer- 
tain marks of fitness, required of a citizen before he is al- 
lowed to exercise the right to vote. These qualifications are : 

(1) Age. — ^To be a voter one must be at least twenty-one 
years of age. It is thought that a person younger than 

46 



WHO ARE VOTERS 47 

this does not know enough to vote intelHgently, and such 
is usually the fact. 

(2) Sex. — In most of the States a voter must be a male 
citizen. In Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, women 
share the right of suffrage equally with men. In these 
four States women may not only vote, but they may hold 
office and otherwise take part in public affairs. In many 
of the States women have the right to vote upon school 
matters and women taxpayers may vote upon questions 
on which only taxpayers have the right to be heard. 

(3) Residence. — A citizen may not vote until he has lived 
a certain time in the State, and in the city or county in 
which he desires to cast his vote. A stranger coining into 
a place should not be allowed to take a part in its govern- 
ment until he has first had time to inform himself upon 
public matters. For this reason every State requires that 
a citizen shall ''gain a residence" before he is permitted 
to vote. In a few States he must wait two years before 
he can vote, in most of the others one year, but in some 
States a residence of only six months is required to give 
him the right. 

(4) Property; Poll Tax. — In times past a citizen was 
not allowed to vote unless he was the owner of a cer- 
tain amount of property, but in our day a man may vote 
even though he owns no property at all. In a few States 
there is a small poll tax that every male citizen of age must 
pay, no matter how poor he may be. If this poll tax is not 
paid, the right to vote is withheld. If we except this poll 
tax, the right to vote is given to all without any expense. 



48 CITIZENSHIP 

(5) Education. — In most of the States the right to vote 
is given to the ignorant as well as to the educated. A 
person may not be able to read or write his name, and 
yet may vote. Of course such a person seldom knows 
what he is doing; he cannot make an intelhgent choice; 
he either votes blindly or he votes as some one tells him. 
Several States demand that a person shall be able to read 
and write before he is allowed to vote. 

Persons Who May Not Vote. — ^There are several classes 
of men who may not vote, although they are old enough 
and have lived in the State as long as is required by 
law : 

(1) Aliens. — We have learned what is meant by the 
word alien. When an alien has been naturalized, that 
is, when he has been made a citizen, he then has the right 
to vote. This is the general rule, although a State may, if 
it sees fit, allow an ahen to vote, and it may refuse to allow 
a man who has been naturalized the right to vote: for it 
should be understood clearly that the State gives the right 
of voting to whom it pleases and withholds the right from 
whom it pleases. Several States give the suffrage to aliens 
who have declared their intention to become citizens. 

(2) Criminals. — ^A criminal, that is, a person who has 
been convicted of theft, or murder, or arson, or some 
other crime, is not allowed to vote. But if a man who was 
once imprisoned for crime, has been lawfully pardoned, the 
right of suffrage is restored to him with his freedom. 

(3) Idiots, lunatics, and imbeciles are not allowed to 
vote. 



. WHO ARE VOTERS 49 

(4) Paupers.— k.Q a rule paupers supported in an alms- 
house at the expense of the pubKc are not allowed to vote. 

Registration.— In most of the States a person who wishes 
to vote must first have his name registered, that is, he 
must have it properly enrolled in the list of voters. In 
every voting district there is a Board of Registrars, con- 
sisting of two or more persons, whose duty it is to make 
out a list of the names of all citizens in the district who 
have a right to vote. As a rule, one wishing to vote must 
appear before the Registrars several weeks before election 
day and state his name, age, birthplace, and where he 
lives. If the Registrars find that he has all the qualifi- 
cations of a voter, his name will be enrolled upon%the vot- 
ing list — he will be registered. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Ought it to be required of a voter that he own a certain amount of 
property? Ought it to be required of a voter that he be able to read 
and write? 

2. Do you favor woman suffrage? If so, why? If not, why not? 

3. For what reason is the right of voting withheld from paupers? 

4. Do you feel that you could now vote intelligently? 

5. State accurately the qualifications for voting in your State. (Ex- 
amine your State constitution.) 

6. Is registration required in your State? In all voting districts, or 
only in cities of more than a certain population? (Examine the Elec- 
tion Law of your State.) 

7. Discuss the words elector, resident, inhabitant, denizen, citizen. 



F. Civil Govt.— 4 



X. CITIZENSHIP: ELECTIONS 

" The proudest now is but my peer, 

The highest not more high; 
To-day, of all the weary year, 

A king of men am I. 
To-day, ahke are great and small, 

The nameless and the known; 
My palace is the people's hall. 

The ballot box my throne!" — Whittier. 

At the Polls.— On election day every qualified citizen 
should go to the polls and vote. The polls are simply a 
room where several election officers meet for the pur- 
pose of receiving and counting the ballots of the voters 
of an election district. When a voter enters the polls, 
he gives his name to the officers, who have the registra- 
tion list before them. When his name is found on the 
list, it is checked ofT, and a ballot is given to him. A ballot 
is a slip or sheet of paper upon which are printed the 
names ' of the political parties and the names of their 
candidates for election. The voter takes his ballot and 
passes into a small booth where he cannot be seen by 
any one. In the booth he finds writing material and a 
shelf or desk on which he may write. After he has marked 
his ballot in a way that shows how he wishes to vote, the 
voter folds his ballot so that the marks cannot be seen. 
He then returns to the place where the officers sit, and his 
ballot is put into a large box, which is usually made of glass. 

The foregoing is the method of voting followed in most 

50 



ELECTIONS 



51 



States. It is known as the ^'Australian System," because 
it was first adopted in Australia. In some States there 
is a separate ballot for the candidates of each party; the , 
voter is given a set of these ballots, and goes into the booth 
to make his choice, or to write a new ballot. The Aus- 
tralian system is the best method of voting that has thus 




The Polls 



far been tried, except perhaps the voting machine, which 
likewise provides for a secret vote. Voting machines are 
coming into use in some States. 

A long time ago men used to vote by calling out in a 
loud voice the name of their favorite candidate. But 
this method often led to quarrels and fights, and it had 
to be abandoned. The open ballot was then tried. By 
this method the voter cast his ballot before the judges 



52 CITIZENSHIP 

and bystanders in such an open way that any one who 
desired could see how he had voted. This led to hrihery. 
A sum of money would be given the voter for voting in a 
certain way, and the man who gave him the money would 
follow him up to the polls, and watch him to see that he 
voted the way he was paid to vote. The open ballot also 
led to intimidation. The voter was frequently afraid to 
vote the way he would like to, lest he might offend an 
employer or some one else whom be could ill afford to 
offend. For such reasons as these voting by open ballot be- 
came unpopular, and the Australian or secret ballot system 
was adopted. This system has its disadvantages. It does 
not encourage men to come out openly and fearlessly and 
announce their convictions. Under the secret ballot law 
a man by guarding his tongue and not letting any one 
know how he votes, may deprive the community of the 
influence of his example. It would be better if we could 
always know how good citizens vote. 

The great point in favor of the secret ballot is that it 
helps to do away with bribery. Under the Australian 
system it is of little use to give the voter money to vote 
a certain ticket, for there is no way to follow him up and 
see if he votes as he promises. If the secret ballot does 
prevent bribery, then every State ought to have it, for 
bribery is one of the worst evils in politics. A man who 
gives a bribe to his fellow-citizen, not only debases that 
citizen, but he debauches society. A bribe giver is a public 
enemy. What shall we say of a bribe taker? Is he better 
or worse than a bribe giver? 



ELECTIONS 53 

Counting the Vote ; Majority, Plurality. — Immediately 
after the polls are closed the counting of the votes be- 
gins. The counting is done openly in the presence of 
a number of people. The candidate for each office who 
has the largest number of votes is declared elected. Some- 
times a majority of the votes is required to elect. By a 
majority is meant more than half of all the votes cast. It 
often happens, when there are three or more candidates 
for the same office, that no one has a majority of all the 
votes. In such cases if a majority is necessary for election 
there must be a second election. But in most of the States 
the one who has the highest number of votes is the suc- 
cessful candidate, even if that number is less than half. 
Election by the highest number of votes is called election 
hy plurality. 

The Right of Holding Office. — Besides the right of 
choosing officers to conduct government, it is the right 
of the American citizen to hold office. The business of 
government requires the service of a very large number 
of people. In the towns or counties there must be road 
commissioners, school trustees, tax collectors, constables. 
In a city there must be a Mayor and councilmen and a 
very long fist of officials. In the State there must be a 
Governor, several secretaries, and the Legislature with its 
senators and its representatives or delegates. In the Na- 
tion there is the President with his cabinet and thousands of 
assistants. It would take many pages merely to name the 
different offices of the different governments. It is the 
boast of the American citizen that, no matter what his 



54 CITIZENSHIP 

rank may be, he has the right to hold any of these offices. 
Any boy born in the United States may hope to become 
President. It is true that only four or five of the millions 
of young Americans now living can ever be President, yet 
it is also true that those boys who will be our future Presi- 
dents may come from the lower walks of life. We have 
had several Presidents who did manual labor in early life. 
One of them was a tailor who did not learn to write until 
after he was married. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Smith, Jones, and Brown are candidates for an ofEce. Smith re- 
ceives 5000 votes, Jones 4000 votes, and Brown 3000 votes. Does Smith 
have a majority or a plurality of votes? What is the smallest number 
of votes that would elect in this case if a majority were required? 
What does the word minority mean? 

2. Discuss the evil effects of bribery. 

3. Should the office seek the man, or the man the office? 

4. Do you know any candidates for office? Are they men well 
qualified for the positions they are seeking? 

5. " A weapon that comes down as still 

As snowflakes fall upon the sod 
But executes a freeman's will 

As lightning does the will of God." 
What is the "weapon"? Memorize the quotation. 

6. Bound the election district or precinct in which you live. 

7. Secure, if you can, a ballot used at an election, and mark it as 
you would if you were going to vote. 

8. Discuss methods of preventing bribery. Would you vote for a 
man who would give bribes? 

9. In what ways are men sometimes bribed without giving them 
money? 

10. Ought candidates for pubHc office to give an account of their 
election expenses? 



XL CITIZENSHIP: DUTIES OF CITIZENS 

" Do what conscience says is right, 
Do what reason says is best, 
Do with all your mind and might, 
Do your duty and be blest," 

A Few Words about Duty.— For several lessons we 
have been discussing the rights of citizens; in this lesson 
we shall speak of a few of the duties of citizens. We are 
all inclined to think too much of our rights and too little 
of our duties. We should never forget that for e^^ry right 
we enjoy there is a corresponding duty. A right has been 
called the reward of a duty fulfilled, and this is the way 
to regard duty. After we have done our duty, then we 
may claim our rights; after we have fulfilled the duties of 
citizenship, we may in good conscience claim our rights as 
citizens. Government cannot give to us more than we 
give to it. If we are careless or selfish in respect to our 
duties to our government, we may be sure that it will not 
have so many blessings for us as it would have if we were 
watchful and faithful in our duty. Let us now learn what 
duty requires of all good citizens. 

Obedience to the Law. — ^The first duty of a citizen is to 
obey the laws of his country. Without obedience to law 
there can be no such thing as good government. Alike in 
the home, in the school, and in the State, the violation of 
law is attended with some kind of punishment. When a 

55 



56 CITIZENSHIP 

law of the State is broken, he who breaks it may be fined, 
that is, he may be compelled to give up a sum of money, 
or he may be imprisoned, or he may be both fined and im- 
prisoned. In the case of murder, he who takes the life of 
another may be compelled to give up his own life. But I 
do not wish to hold up the punishments of the law before 
you in order to frighten you. I do not want you to obey 
the law simply because you are afraid of the punishment 
that would follow if you should break it. People who 
obey a law through the sense of fear are likely to break 
it if they think they will not be discovered. Such people 
are satisfied if only they can keep out of jail. It is against 
the law to give a man money for his vote; yet how many 
citizens violate this law simply because they run but little 
risk of being detected and punished! A bribe giver is no 
less a criminal because he escapes punishment. Laws 
should be obeyed because it is a duty to obey them. It 
is our right to seek the protection of the law; it is our duty 
to do the bidding of the law. 

Defense of One's Country. — A most serious duty of 
the citizen to his government is to defend it against its 
enemies. You boys may at some time in your hfe be 
called upon to take up arms and fight for your country. 
If such a time should come, you should not flinch, but 
should go forth bravely to the battlefield, prepared to 
lay down your life, if necessary. But you should not 
wish for war or try to stir up strife. The good citizen 
will try to avoid war. Men and nations should live at 
peace with one another; war is never right unless it is 



DUTIES OF CITIZENS 57 

waged for the purpose of making the world better in the 
end. 

Earning a Living. — Every citizen should try to earn 
an honest living for himself and those dependent upon 
him. A man who does not work is a burden upon the 
community. What he eats and wears is produced by the 
labor of other people. Now, an able-bodied man who 
lives upon the labor of others loses his own self-respect 
and deserves to lose the respect of others. Hence a good 
citizen will refuse to eat bread that he has not earned, 
if it is possible for him to earn bread for himself. Some- 
times men cannot earn their own living because they can- 
not find work to do. When this is the case, there is some- 
thing wrong somewhere, and it is the duty of good citizens 
to try to discover where the wrong is and to take measures 
to remedy the wrong. In a land of plenty no strong-armed 
man, willing to work, ought to be compelled to go hungry 
or to eat the bread of charity. 

The Duty of Studying Political Questions. — Before 
you enter upon politics you should make a careful study 
of political questions. As a voter you will be called upon 
to do work upon a great political machine, for that is 
what the American government is. Ought you not to be 
prepared for this work? Ought you not to understand this 
machine? A person would not begin to work on a watch 
until he had studied carefully the workings of a watch. 
Neither should a person meddle with the American gov- 
ernment until he knows something about its worldngs, 
for it is a machine much more complicated and difficult 



58 CITIZENSHIP 

to understand than a watch. It has big wheels and little 
wheels and wheels within wheels curiously and nicely 
fitted together, each doing its own work, doing it well 
when voters are wise, doing it ill when voters are foolish. 
Is it not plain, then, that you ought to begin at once to 
study this machine so that when you begin to operate it 
you will know something of its workings? 

While you are at school you may prepare yourselves 
to vote in an intelligent manner when you come of age. 
You may do this in two ways, — by reading and by dis- 
cussion. Read history. You cannot understand the pres- 
ent without understanding the past. Read the lives of 
great men. The founders of our government were un- 
selfish men. Read what they wrote about government 
and learn what they did for their country. Read the his- 
tory of political parties and study their platforms. Read 
works upon government. Read good newspapers and 
inform yourselves of the political questions of the day. 

But reading is not enough. Along with reading must 
go discussion. Our government is founded upon free and 
open discussion. This is why citizens are guaranteed 
freedom of speech. By talking over a question in a good- 
natured way with friends we learn a number of things. 
In the first place, we learn more about the question under 
discussion. We almost always find that our friend knows 
something about it that we did not know. Then we learn 
to express our thoughts more clearly and forcibly. We 
never know a thing well enough until we can tell it to 
some one else. Discussion also teaches us to have respect 



DUTIES OF CITIZENS . 59 

for the opinions of other people; and this is very good 
for us. Above all, discussion is good because it leads to 
the truth. 

The Duties of Voters. — When you come to vote you 
will be glad to have studied political questions, for in 
the polling booth you will find yourself face to face with 
duties which, if you fulfill them properly, will require 
all the knowledge you may have gained. What are these 
duties? If an intelligent man will ask himself the ques- 
tion seriously he will conclude that he ought at least to 
do the following things: 

(1) To vote whenever it is his privilege to vote. 

(2) To vote only for honest men for office. ^ 

(3) To accept no bribe and to give no bribe. 

(4) To know what he is voting for. 

(5) To know something of the character of the person 
for whom he votes. 

(6) To prefer his country to his party. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Can you name a war that was a blessing to mankind? One that 
was a curse? 

2. Would you fight for your country, even if you thought it was 
in the wrong? 

3. Should a citizen obey a bad law? Who shall judge whether a law 
is bad or good? 

4. Explain how a single vote may decide the result of an election. 

5. What are some of the things a politician must do? 

6. Would you vote for your party even if you thought it was 
wrong? 

7. Of the duties mentioned in the lesson which stands first in im- 
portance? Which stands second? Which third? Which fourth? 



XII. THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT: MAJORITY 

RULE 

" That government of the people, by the people, for the people shall 
not perish from the earth." — Abraham Lincoln. 

Introduction. — Now that we have learned what citi- 
zenship is and what are the rights and duties of the citi- 
zen, we may begin to study the workings of the govern- 
ment which it is the duty of citizens to operate and keep 
in repair. And first I want you to learn something about 
the powers of the American government. When an officer, 
perhaps a man of small stature, lightly lays his hand upon 
the shoulder of a big powerful man and tells him to ^'come 
along," why does the big man instantly obey? From 
what source does the officer derive his power? When a 
body of lawmakers makes a law that no wooden buildings 
shall be erected in a certain part of a city, why do the land- 
owners there submit and build no houses of wood on their 
land? Where do the lawmakers get their power to make 
the law? A judge sentences a man to die, and in a few 
days or in a few weeks the poor wretch is hurried to his 
doom. Where does the judge get such power? Such ques- 
tions as these, questions about the power of government, are 
of the greatest importance and should receive your most 
careful attention. 

The Power of the People. — In the olden times it was 

60 



MAJORITY RULE 



01 



thought that government came down to men from heaven 
and that rulers received their offices and their power from 
God. Only a little more than two hundred years ago a 
great English writer published a book in which there was 
a picture representing Government as a mighty giant 
with a crown on his head, hovering over the earth and 



v.. 



.. NoTi estpdtgstas Juper//)2erram yuoe. 



s ( 




An Ancient Notion of Government 

ruling it with staff and sword. Such a picture would not 
represent government to-day. In our day government 
is very close to men and is looked upon as a purely human 
affair. Men plan and build government somewhat as they 
plan and build houses and battle ships. In this planning 



62 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

and building the people take a part. Especially is this 
true in our country. In the United States the people are 
the complete masters of government. All power flows 
from them. How do the people manage to make their 
wants known? By the principle of majority rule. When 
a pubhc question is to be settled or an officer is to be 
chosen, an orderly vote of the people is taken, and the 
largest number of votes decides the question or elects 
the officer; that is to say, the majority rules. 

Where government is carried on by the principle of 
majority rule we have a democracy, a word which means 
'^government by the people." The United States is a 
democracy, because it is governed by the people. When 
we say this, we mean of course the political people, the 
voters. The voters express their wishes, and the will of the 
majority is regarded as the will of all and is the law of the 
land. This is what majority rule means and is what democ- 
racy means. So while studying the simple httle contriv- 
ance of majority rule we are brought face to face with the 
greatest and noblest of all political themes — democracy. 

Democracy a Government of Reason. — In the first 
place you should understand that democracy means some- 
thing more than the counting of votes. Democracy is a 
government of reason. Suppose a ball team wanted to 
decide whether or not a game should be played with a 
team in an adjoining town; would it do nothing but take 
a vote on the question? No; that would be very stupid. 
Before the vote was taken the subject would be talked 
over: the strength of the rival team would be discussed; 



MAJORITY RULE 



63 



previous engagements would be considered; the expense 
of the trip would be taken into account. After these and 
other matters were fully considered the vote would be 
taken and the result would depend upon the points brought 
out by the speakers. That would be the right kind of 




majority rule, for it would be government by discussion; 
it would be the rule of reason. 

Some boys are playing at push ball. One boy pushes 
south with a force, we will say, of 75 pounds; a second 
boy pushes north with a force of 125 pounds; a third 
boy pushes east with a force of 100 pounds; a fourth boy, 
more powerful than the rest, pushes west with a force 
of 150 pounds. The ball does not move directly south, 
north, east, or west, but yields a little to each boy. The 
strongest boy, however, does the most in directing the 



64 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

course of the ball. Now our government is in many 
respects like a push ball that is being worked at by a 




great number of boys pushing in different directions. 
Sixteen million voters are working at the American gov- 
ernment, some wanting it to do this, others wanting it to 
do that, others wanting it to do still something else. It 
cannot obey fully the wishes of any single voter. All 
it can do is to yield a little to each voter and do that 
which will most nearly please the largest number of voters. 
In the case of the push ball, you noticed — and this is 
very important — that the general movement of the ball 
was determined by the strongest boy, the boy who pushed 
toward the west having more to do with the movement 
than any of the others. In the case of the government 
it is the same: the voter who goes to the polls with the 
most knowledge, the one who understands the workings of 
the political machine and is familiar with public affairs, is 
going to have a great deal more influence with govern- 
ment than the ignorant voter can have. It is true the 
well-informed citizen casts into the ballot box but a 
single vote, but his example and his influence in the com- 
munity cause others to vote the way he does. Therefore 



MAJORITY RULE 65 

his power with the government is not measured by one 
vote but by all the votes he wins over to his side. 

Democracy a Government of Justice. — Another great 
fact of democracy which you will do well to think about 
at this point is this: the majority must deal fairly with 
the minority. What is all government for? For what 
purpose are these armies and navies and courts and offi- 
cers and laws? Their purpose is to maintain justice 
among men, to prevent men from suffering any kind of 
wrong. Now if the majority does not deal fairly with 
the minority it does the very thing that it is the purpose 
of government to prevent: it inflicts injustice. And the 
injustice of a majority is the worst kind of^ injustice. 
When a big strong boy wantonly and cruelly pummels a 
little boy we call the big boy a bully; so if a majority, a 
big body of men, should maltreat a minority, a small 
body of men, by taking away their property unjustly, 
or throwing them into jail without cause, we might prop- 
erly call the majority a bully. A bully is a tyrant and 
a majority that does not deal fairly with a minority is 
both a bully and a tyrant. 

The tyranny of the majority is justly regarded as one 
of the greatest dangers of a democracy. It is dangerous 
because it is so powerful. In a monarchy the citizens can 
put an end to the tyranny of their king by killing him, 
but you cannot kill a majority. There is no way to re- 
sist successfully the brute force of a majority if it wants 
to be cruel or unjust. lii a democracy tyranny can be 

avoided in only one way: the citizens must always vote 
F. Civil Govt.— 5 



66 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

for what they think is just and right, and in determining 
what is just and right they must keep the golden rule 
in mind. The majority would do well to keep these lines 
of Shakespeare ever before their eyes : 

Oh, it is excellent 
To have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous 
To use it like a giant. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. How many votes were cast in the United States at the last presi- 
dential election? How many votes were cast for the successful candi- 
date? What per cent of the whole population voted for the successful 
candidate? 

2. Why should Civil Government be taught in the pubhc schools? 

3. Define the following words: democracy, aristocracy, monarchy, 
despotism, oligarchy, anarchy. 

4. Give reasons why democracy is better than monarchy. 

5. What countries besides our own have popular governments? 
Name some of the great monarchs of the world. 



XIII. THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT: REPRE- 
SENTATION 

"A representative government, made responsible at short periods 
of election, produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind." 

— Thomas Jefferson. 

Pure and Representative Democracy.— In the last 
lesson you learned that our government is a democracy, 
one that receives its power from the people. Now there 
are two kinds of democracies, the pure democracy and 
the representative democracy. The pure de*iocracy is 
one in which the voters meet in a body and not only 
choose officers of government but enact laws as well. 
In ancient Greece the State was often a pure democracy. 
For example, when Attica wished to decide any important 
affair all her citizens, more than ten thousand in number, 
flocked to Athens and assembled in the Agora, or market 
place, to discuss the question and vote upon it. In this 
assembly there were all classes of society, — carpenters, 
weavers, shoemakers, poets, generals, philosophers. After 
the question had been fully discussed the vote was taken, 
and the will of the majority was regarded as the will of 
Attica. This was pure democracy. 

But you can see that a large city or a State cannot be 
a pure democracy, for the whole body of citizens is too 
large to meet at one place. How, then, can all the people 
of a State have a voice in the making of a law, or take part 

67 



68 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

in the management of their government? They cannot 
take part directly, but they may do it indirectly in the 
following way : 

A number of citizens may choose one of their number 
to act in their stead: the citizens of a town or of a county 
may choose one or two of its citizens to meet with other 
citizens chosen in the same way from other towns and 
counties. If there are fifty counties in a State, and the 
citizens of each county, instead of going themselves, elect 
two of their number to go to the capital of the State for the 
purpose of making laws, the lawmaking body of the State 
will consist of one hundred men. This small body will act 
in the name of several hundreds of thousands of people, 
and the laws it passes will be as binding as if they had been 
passed by all the people coming together in an immense 
throng. A man who acts in the place of and with the 
authority of other men represents those men, and is called 
their representative; and the government that is conducted 
by a few people chosen to act in the name of all the peo- 
ple is a representative government, or a representative de- 
mocracy. 

In this country we have representative government. 
In the New England towns, it is true, the people still 
come out in town meeting and govern as a pure democ- 
racy, but in the other governments, in counties and cities 
and States and in our nation, the people rule indirectly 
through their chosen representatives. 

The Representative's Term of Service. — For how long 
a period should a representative hold the power which 



REPRESENTATION 69 

the voters give him? If you are a member of a club, your 
club doubtless elects officers every year. Why do you 
elect them so often? Why not elect them every five 
years, or every ten years, or for life? Because you want 
an opportunity to elect new officers should the interests 
of the club demand a change. The officers might neglect 
their duties or manage affairs badly, and if they held their 
places for long terms they might do a great deal of mis- 
chief before the club could get rid of them. In order to 
keep the reins in its hands the club elects its officers for 
short terms. 

The same rule holds in American politics. The voters 
keep the reins of government in their hands By electing 
their representatives for short terms only. It is rare 
that a representative's term of office is more than four 
years. In a great many States the term is two years, and 
in a few States it is for one year only. This does not mean 
that representatives can serve for only short periods, for 
if their constituents want to retain them they can 
elect them again and again. As a matter of fact repre- 
sentatives by means of reelection sometimes hold their 
places for thirty or forty years. 

This practice of giving our representatives only short 
terms of office causes election day to come around very 
often. In a great many States there is at least one elec- 
tion every year, and in a few States election day comes 
twice a year. You will hear people complain of this 
frequency of election, but as a matter of fact frequent 
elections are good both for the representative and for 



70 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

the voter. They are good for the representative because 
they tend to hold him to his duty; they are good for the 
voter because they keep his mind fixed upon the doings 
of his government and this helps to make him the wide- 
awake person a citizen of a democracy ought to be. 

How a Fair Representation is Secured. — How shall 
fair representation of the people be secured? If you were 
a member of an athletic association that comprised many 
schools and there was to be held an important meeting of 
the governing body^ you would want your own school to 
have a just number of representatives at this meeting. 
But what would be a just and fair number? Would you 
want your school to be represented according to its rank 
in scholarship? According to the number of its pupils? 
According to the number of good athletes it has? Accord- 
ing to the amount of money it contributes to the asso- 
ciation? Such questions as these would have to be an- 
swered before you could put your association on a good 
working basis. So in conducting a representative gov- 
ernment there must be a plan for securing a fair rep- 
resentation of the people. 

For the carrying out of laws we usually elect only one 
person, a Mayor, a Governor, or a President, and as for 
the judges of the law, we elect only so many of these 
as are necessary to try promptly and carefully the cases 
that are brought up. Thus far there is no trouble in 
determining how many representatives to choose. But 
we must have representatives also for a lawmaking body. 
Our town or city must have a Council, our State a Legis- 



REPRESENTATION 71 

lature, our nation a Congress. How is a fair representa- 
tion in these lawmaking bodies to be secured? 

It is secured by giving the people a representation ac- 
cording to their number: so many people, so many rep- 
resentatives. If our city has a population of 50,000 and 
we want a City Council of twenty-five members, we may 
divide the city into twenty-five districts (wards), draw- 
ing the boundary lines so that each ward shall have as 
nearly as possible 2,000 inhabitants and to each ward 
give one representative. In the State Legislatures, the 
counties are represented according to their population; 
as a rule a county of 40,000 inhabitants will have twice 
as many representatives as a county of 20,000- In the 
great House of Representatives at Washington the rule 
of representation according to population is carried out 
with the greatest exactness. A member of the House at 
present represents about 200,000 people. 

Why has the rule "so many people, so many repre- 
sentatives" been adopted? Because it is consistent with 
the spirit of true democracy. In America, government 
is for men as men, and not for this or that interest or 
class. And this is right. The principal thing in a country 
is not its wealth, or its extent of territory, or its mines, 
or its fields, or its factories, but its men. 

"What constitutes a state? 

Not high-rais'd battlement or labour'd mound. 
Thick wall or moated gate; 
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned; ^ 



72 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

Not bays and broad armed ports, 

Where laughing at the storm rich navies ride; 
Not starred and spangled courts, 

Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. 
No. MEN, high-minded MEN, 

Men who their duties know. 
But know their rights and knowing dare maintain, 

Prevent the long-aimed blow 
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain — 

These constitute a stated 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Define constituent. 

2. Name the republics (representative democracies) of the world. 

3. Elect one of your classmates to represent your class in a spelling 
contest. One to represent the class in a debate. 

4. Should the representative always vote to please his constituents? 
Suppose the voters change their opinions after an election, should the 
representative also change his opinions? Suppose the opinions of the 
representative should change after an election, should he resign his 
office or should he vote against the wishes of his constituents, or what 
should he do? Suppose the voters after an election should instruct 
their representative as to a course of action, should the representative 
obey the instruction? 

5. The Recall. In some cities the voters have the power to de- 
prive a representative of his office before his term has expired if he 
does not discharge his duties in the way the voters think he ought 
to discharge them. This power is called the "recall." What do you 
think of the "recall" as a political contrivance? 



XIV. THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT: CHECKS 

AND BALANCES 

"A separation of departments, so far as practicable, and the preser- 
vation of clear lines of division between them, is the fundamental idea 
of all our constitutions, and doubtless the continuance of regulated 
liberty depends on maintaining these boundaries," — Daniel Webster. 

Introduction. — ^You have learned that all the power 
of government comes from the people and that the people 
give their power to their chosen representatives. You 
ought next to learn how the mighty power of ^he Ameri- 
can government is regulated. In almost any ordinary 
machine there are devices for regulating and checking 
power. The steam engine has its governor, the car has 
its brakes, the clock its escapement, the watch its balance 
wheel, the elevator its safety appliance. Likewise in our 
political machinery, there is a really wonderful series of 
devices for regulating, balancing, and checking power, 
and you must understand the workings of these checks 
and balances. 

The Three Departments of Government. — Let us be- 
gin this great subject of checks and balances by observ- 
ing the manner in which the power of government is 
separated or broken up into parts. We do not elect one 
ruler and bestow upon him all the power we have to give. 
To do that might be to build a despotism over our heads, 

for the ruler who has the whole power of the government 

73 



74 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

in his hands could be a tyrant if he wanted to be. He 
could make a rule for the people to obey, could decide 
who obeyed it and who did not, and could punish the 
disobedient as he thought fit. In the exercise of his power 
he would have nothing to regulate him, nothing to check 
him. If he followed reason and justice all would be well, 
but he might follow passion or prejudice or caprice and 
then all would not be well. The American people take 
no chances in this matter. They refuse to give all their 
power to one man or to one body of men. Following the 
example of our English ancestors, we bestow power upon 
three different sets of officers, giving to each set authority 
of a particular kind. In this way we separate the power 
of government and cause it to flow in three streams. 

These three streams of power give us three depart- 
ments of government: the legislative, the executive, and 
the judicial departments. The legislative department (the 
Legislature) has the power to make the laws, the executive 
department (the President, or Governor, or Mayor) has the 
power to enforce the law or carry it into effect, and the 
judicial department (the courts) has the power to try 
offenders against the law and to settle disputes arising un- 
der it. 

You may liken these three departments to three great 
departments of your own being, your judgment, your 
will, and your conscience. Your judgment plans for you 
a course to follow; the legislature when making the law 
plans a course for the people to follow. Your will executes 
the plans mapped out by your judgment; the executive 



CHECKS AND BALANCES 75 

department carries out the plans enacted by the legisla- 
ture. Your conscience prevents you from doing wrong, 
that is, from working injustice upon others; the courts see 
to it that there is no injustice between man and man. 
So the legislature is the judgment of the State, the execu- 
tive department is its will, and the courts are its conscience. 
In the legislative department we must look for Wisdom, 
in the executive department for Power, and in the judicial 
department for Justice. The legislature, let us say, is 
a nation's Head, the executive department is its Hand, 
and the courts are its Heart. 

The three departments are found in nearly all our 
political divisions, whether low or high, smaR or great. 
In your town or city you have councilmen or aldermen to 
make your local laws (ordinances), a Mayor or chief 
burgess to carry out these laws, and magistrates or police 
justices to try the smaller cases. In your State there is 
the State Legislature, the State executive department, 
consisting of the Governor and other executive officers, 
and the State courts. For the entire country we have 
Congress (which is the legislature of the nation), the Presi- 
dent and his cabinet, and a system of national courts, 
including the Supreme Court. So in small things as well 
as great, government in America is conducted on the 
three-department plan. 

The Lower and the Upper House. — Besides the sepa- 
ration of power just pointed out, there is in the legislative 
department an important check upon the use of power. 
We do not as a rule give the lawmaking power outright 



76 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

to one body of men, but to two bodies, and we require 
that before a measure (a bill) becomes a law it shall pass 
in both bodies. Neither body can make a law without 
the consent of the other. 

The two divisions of the Legislature are generally spoken 
of as the lower and the upper house. The lower house is 
usually known as the House of Representatives. The 
upper house is always known as the Senate. The lower 
house usually has a membership three or four times as 
large as that of the Senate. This means that a Senator 
usually represents three or four times as many people as 
are represented by a member of the lower house, for in 
nearly all our legislatures representation in both branches 
follows pretty closely the rule, '^so many people, so many 
representatives." The Senate of the United States, how- 
ever, is an exception to this rule, as will be explained 
hereafter. 

Why is it necessary to have two houses to pass a law? 
Why cannot we elect a single body and give to it the 
whole lawmaking power? If there were but one house, 
a bad bill might be rushed through in a moment of excite- 
ment or passion and the law might do much mischief; 
but if a bill must pass through two houses before it be- 
comes a law there is a chance for the lawmakers of the 
second house to take a sober second thought and block 
the passage of the bill if it is bad. 

The Veto Power. — Another check to be noticed here 
is the veto power. In nearly all cases the executive can 
check the legislative power by vetoing its laws, that is, 



CHECKS AND BALANCES 77 

by forbidding their passage. The Mayor of a city can 
generally veto an ordinance of the Council, the Governor 
of a State (in all States except Rhode Island and North 
Carolina) can veto a law of the Legislature, the President 
of the United States can veto a law of Congress. But the 
veto power is not complete, absolute, and final. When 
one branch of the Legislature votes down a bill passed by 
the other branch, that is the end of the matter, for the 
bill is killed, but when the Governor or the President 
vetoes a bill the Legislature or the Congress can vote on 
it again and if it can be passed a second time by a two- 
thirds or three-fifths majority of both houses it becomes 
a law in spite of the veto. So the veto poster is only 
partial and may be only a temporary check. 

The Independence of the Departments. — In the exer- 
cise of its own proper powers one department is entirely 
independent of the others. Each department is expected 
to attend to its own business in its own way and not to 
meddle with the affairs of another department. In the 
political scales the power of one department is supposed 
to balance precisely the power of another. The scales 
must not tip one way or the other. 

Who is to keep this system of checks and balances in 
good working order? When the beam tips, who is to 
restore the balance? The people themselves. Only the 
voters have power enough to outweigh the power of a 
department. If a Mayor has seized powers that do not 
belong to him, the voters may refuse to reelect him; if a 
Legislature is lording it over a Governor, a vote of the 



78 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

people may keep the members of the Legislature at home 
and thus give back to the Governor his rightful power. 

As a voter you may be called upon to help in preserving 
a balance of power among the departments, and you 
ought to understand clearly that such a balance is a 
good thing and that encroachment is a bad thing. Why 
is it a bad thing? Why should you refuse to support a 
department that is grasping powers that do not belong 
to it? Washington has answered this question. ^^The 
spirit of encroachment," he says, ^Hends to consolidate 
the power of all the departments in one and thus create, 
whatever the form of government, a real despotism.'^ 
When you hear men calling for power, power, more power, 
remember these words of Washington, and don't give 
them the power unless it is precisely the kind they ought 
to have. Don't give to the judge the kind of power a 
lawmaker ought to have; don't give to the lawmaker 
the kind of power a judge ought to have; don't give to 
an executive officer the kind of power the legislature 
ought to have. Keep all the parts of government well 
balanced and thus prevent the despotism that Washington 
feared. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. What does the word veto mean? 

2. Do you think it would be wise to give the lawmaking power of 
the school to pupils? The judicial power? The executive power? 

3. In some schools the pupils organize themselves into a little 
democracy or self-governing community. They elect from their num- 
ber a lawmaking body which makes the rules of the school, executive 
officers who carry the rules into effect, and a judicial body which de- 



CHECKS AND BALANCES 79 

cides whether a pupil has violated a rule. Whom of your school would 
you choose for your lawmakers? Whom would you choose as your chief 
executive officer? Whom would you choose as your judges? What 
rules would you desire in respect to tardiness? Whispering? Cheat- 
ing? Truancy? Absence? Rudeness? (Pupils and teachers who are 
interested in the subject of self-government for schools should con- 
sult Wilcox and Gill's "Outline of American Government.") 

4. Name two great lawmakers, two great judges, two great execu- 
tives. 



XV. THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT: LOCAL 
SELF-GOVERNMENT 

"It is to local self-government that we owe what we are and what 
we hope to be." — Daniel Webster. 

Introduction. — You now have learned three of the 
great truths that lie at the foundation of American gov- 
ernment, namely: (1) that government is conducted ac- 
cording to the principle of majority rule; (2) that the 
people govern through their chosen representatives; 
(3) that the power of government is sharply separated 
and given to three great departments. A fourth great 
truth about our political system is this: in respect to 
local matters every community has large powers of local 
self-government. In this lesson let us learn about local 
self-government. 

The Three Grades of Government. — If you have paid 
any attention at all to public affairs you have already 
noticed several governments in operation around you. 
If you live in a southern State on a farm you know some- 
thing of a county government that transacts its business 
at the county seat, something of a State government that 
has its headquarters at your State capital, and something 
of the great National Government that has its seat at 
Washington. If you live on a farm in a northern State 
you are familiar also with a town or township govern- 

80 



LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 81 

ment. If you live in a village or in a city you are con- 
stantly brought face to face with the officers of a village 
or city government. 

At first sight, therefore, it appears that we have at 
least half a dozen different kinds of government, but 
let us see if we cannot group them so as to reduce the 
number of classes. It will be noticed that all the govern- 
ments below the State government attend to the affairs 
of a small area. The county is usually not so large but 
that one may drive from one end of it to the other in a 
day, a township occupies only a few square miles, and 
the area of the village or city is generally even smaller. 
Moreover, as we shall presently see, all these governments 
of lower grade stand in the same relation to the higher 
State government, and they all perform the same kind 
of public service. So we may consider all the political 
divisions below the State, that is to say, counties, towns, 
townships, villages, boroughs, cities, as having the same 
grade of government, and we may call this grade neighbor- 
hood or local government because its services are always 
confined to a neighborhood or locality. We have, there- 
fore, three grades of government — local government. State 
government, and National Government. 

The Relation of the Local Government to the State. — 
What is the relation of a local government to the gov- 
ernments of higher grade? How does your county or 
township or city stand in respect to the State and to the 
nation? The answer to this question is very simple: the 
local government receives all its pov/ers from the State 
F. Civil Govt— 6 



82 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

and is in no way connected with the National Government. 
The authority which a locahty exercises is given to it 
either by the State constitution (of which we shall learn 
later) or by a law of the State Legislature. The authority 
which a locality receives from the constitution cannot be 
taken from it without changing the constitution, but that 
which it receives from the Legislature can be changed as 
often as that body desires and in any way it desires. 

Local Self-Government. — Although the State has full 
power over a locality and can rule it almost precisely as 
it may wish to, yet as a matter of fact the locality in 
every State is in many things allowed to rule itself. In 
practice the State Legislature passes a law giving to the 
local government certain powers and provides for certain 
officers, and when it has done this it lets the locality alone. 
The county or township or the city is permitted to do its 
own work in its own way so long as it does nothing con- 
trary to the law which the Legislature gives it. But, 
mind you, that law gives the people very large powers 
of local self-government. The American people would not 
be satisfied with any other arrangement. Our political 
system had its birth in the little local governments which 
the early settlers set up, and in the building up of States 
and of the nation the people have always reserved for 
themselves the right of attending to their own local busi- 
ness. Our affection for local self-government is so strong 
that neither a Legislature, nor a convention called to frame 
a constitution, would dare to take from a community the 
right to attend to its own affairs. 



LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 83 

The Services of Local Government. — ^The local gov- 
ernment attends to common, everyday affairs. Indeed, 
we might say it performs the drudgery of social service. 
The constables and policemen of the local government 
stand guard night and day, in sunshine and in storm, 
to preserve order and keep the peace. Highway officers 
and workmen of the local government repair the roads, 
pave the streets, dig the sewers, and build the bridges. 
In schools supported by the neighborhood, public teachers 
work laboriously and patiently for the education of youth. 
In its almshouses the local government feeds and clothes 
the poor of the neighborhood, thus recognizing the prin- 
ciple that charity should begin at home. Health officers 
of the local government prevent the spread of contagious 
diseases, cause people to be vaccinated, condemn bad 
plumbing, and care in many ways for the public health. 
To pay for these services the local government levies such 
taxes as are necessary, and these are collected by local 
officers. 

Any neighborhood government, whatever may be its 
name, can be expected to render such services as these 
just mentioned. It is always the business of the locality 
to preserve peace and good order within its boundaries, 
to attend to its own roads and streets, to educate its own 
youth, to support its own poor, to care for its own health, 
to levy and collect its own taxes. If the locality, how- 
ever, is a large town or city its government must do all 
this and much more than this, for where people live close 
together government always has more things to do than 



84 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 

it has where they Hve far apart. What the additional 
services of a city are, however, need not concern us at 
this point, for the subject will receive special attention 
hereafter. 

This general account of the nature of local government 
and of the kind of work it does prepares us to make a 
particular study of the several different types of local 
government. The local governments that should be 
studied are the County, the Township, the Town, the 
Village, and the City. In the next lesson the County will 
receive attention. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Describe a community in which all the local services mentioned 
in the lesson are performed badly. 

2. Describe a community in which all the local services mentioned 
in the lesson are performed well. 

3. Does the constitution of this State give the local government 
much power or little power? 

4. Suppose the people of a locality do not manage their affairs well, 
ought the State government to step in with its officers and govern the 
locality? Which is better in such a case, self-government or good 
government? 

5. Give reasons why you ought to take a part in the business of 
local government. 



XVI. THE COUNTY 

"The town and county have shaped the life of the States of the 
Union." — Austin Scott. 

Introduction. — ^The local government that touches the 
lives of the greatest number of people is the county. 
Every State and Territory is divided into counties, and 
as a rule every town, township, village, and city is located 
in some county.^ Almost everybody, therefore, lives in 
a county and is interested in county government. 

County Government Not Everywhere the Same. — ^The 
services rendered by the county government differ as 
we pass from State to State. In the southern States and 
in many of the western States the county — outside of 
towns and cities — performs most of the local services 
mentioned in the last lesson. In the Middle Atlantic 
States and in the States of the great Middle West there 
are within the county a number of smaller local gov- 
ernments known as townships (Lesson XVIII), which do 
a part of the work of local government, and leave a fair 
portion of that work for the county to do. In New Eng- 
land there are within the county a number of local gov- 
ernments known as towns (Lesson XVII), which perform 

^ The county in Louisiana is known as the parish. 

Baltimore, St. Louis, Washington, D. C, and many cities in Vir- 
ginia are not located in counties. The city of New York includes all 
the territory of four counties. 

85 



86 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT 



nearly all the services of local government and leave the 
county very little to do. 

Since the county in different parts of the country has 
different work to perform we must not expect counties 
everywhere to have the same officers, nor can we expect 
to find county officers of the same name everywhere 
performing precisely the same duties. Still, in many im- 



.-'% 




A County Courthouse and Jail 

portant matters county government is everywhere the 
same. 

The County Seat. — Every county has a county seat 
where the courts are held and where the business of the 
county is transacted. The county seat may very prop- 
erly be called the capital of the county. It is the political 
center of the county, very often the geographical center, 
and in many cases the commercial center. Here are 
located the courthouse, the jail, and other county build- 



THE COUNTY 87 

ings. Sometimes a county has two county seats, but this 
occurs very seldom indeed. 

The County Commissioners or Supervisors. — ^Most of 
the pubHc business of the county is done by a Board of 
County Commissioners^ — called in some States Super- 
visors.^ This board consists of three or more members 
who hold their office for a term that varies, in different 
States, from one to six years. In most of the States the 
County Commissioners (Supervisors), like most of the 
other county officers, are elected by the people. 

The power and duties of the County Commissioners vary 
as we pass from State to State, but as a rule the Commis- 
sioners do at least the following things: v 

(1) They fix the rate of taxation for the county. 

(2) They appropriate money for the payment of the 
salaries of county officers and to meet the other expenses 
of county government. 

(3) They make a contract for repairing old roads and 
opening new ones, and for building and repairing bridges. 

(4) They make contracts for building and repairing 
public buildings, such as courthouses, jails, and alms- 
houses. 

(5) They appoint subordinate county officials. 

^ This board is called in some of the States the county court; in sev- 
eral States it is called the levy court because it is the body that levies 
(raises) the taxes. In Rhode Island there are no County Commissioners. 

^ In some States the supervisors of all the different townships 
of a county act as a board of County Commissioners or Supervisors. 
This is true of New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and of 
many counties of Illinois. 



88 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

(6) They represent the county in the courts when it is 
sued for damages. 

The Court Officials of the County. — The county is 
everywhere a district for the administration of justice, 
and at every county seat one or more judges sit for the 
trial of cases. These judges generally are not themselves 
county officers but are State officers; yet in conducting 
the business of the court in each county they receive the 
assistance of several county officers. The principal county 
officers who assist the judges in their duties are the fol- 
lowing : 

(1) The Sheriff has been called the ^^arm of the judge" 
because he carries out the orders of the judge. If the 
judge orders a man to be taken to prison, the sheriff takes 
him; if he orders property to be sold, the sheriff sells it; 
if he sentences a man to be hanged, the sheriff hangs him. 
It is the duty also of the sheriff to preserve peace and 
order. If there is a riot, the sheriff quells it. When 
necessary, the sheriff may call to his aid deputies or 
helpers. In times of great danger or disturbance, the 
sheriff may call to his aid the posse comitatus, that is, 
every able-bodied man in the county. The sheriff lives at 
the county seat and has charge of the county jail and its 
prisoners. 

(2) The Prosecuting Attorney — called in some States the 
State's Attorney, in others the District Attorney, in others 
the County Attorney, and in still others the Solicitor — 
appears in the county court at the trial of a criminal and 
presents the case against him. If the evidence goes to show 



THE COUNTY 89 

that the accused is guilty it is the business of the prosecu- 
ting attorney to do all in his power to secure the conviction 
of the offender. A faithful prosecuting attorney is a terror 
to criminals. 

(3) The Coroner. — When a person is murdered or is 
found dead or dies mysteriously the coroner (usually a 
physician) takes charge of the body of the dead person 
and inquires into the cause of the death. If he thinks 
that there has been foul play, he will summon six or 
twelve men to act as a coroner's jury, and an examina- 
tion will be made. Witnesses will be summoned, and the 
jury, after hearing evidence, will state in writing what 
they think was the cause of the death. This examination is 
called the "' coroner's inquest." 

(4) The Clerk of the County Court. — ^Any court above a 
police court, or above that of a justice of the peace, is a 
'^ court of record"; that is, its proceedings are enrolled 
in permanent form. The county court is a court of record, 
and the man who keeps its records is called the Clerk of 
the Court. This officer is a kind of secretary to the judge. 
He writes out an account of trials and keeps a record of 
the judgments of the court. Besides this, in some States, 
he keeps a record of deeds and mortgages affecting any land 
in the county, issues marriage certificates, and records all 
births and deaths. This officer in some States is called the 
Prothonotary. 

Other County Officials. — ^The county officers thus far 
mentioned are found in almost every State. In addi- 
tion to these there are several other county officials 



90 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

that are found in many or most States. Among these 
are: 

(5) The County Treasurer j who receives and pays out 
the money raised by taxation. 

(6) The County Auditor, who examines the books of 
the treasurer and of the other officers and reports whether 
the pubKc accounts are kept properly and honestly. 

(7) County Assessors, who estimate the value of the prop- 
erty of each taxpayer in the county; and County Tax Col- 
lectors, who collect the taxes and turn them over to the 
treasurer.^ 

(8) The Register or Recorder of Deeds. — In all the States, 
when real estate is sold or is in any manner transferred 
from one person to another, a public record of the trans- 
fer is necessary to protect the rights of the new claimant. 
In about half the States the keeping of this record is 
intrusted to a special county officer known as the Register, 
or Recorder of Deeds. 

(9) The Probate Court. — In most of the States there are 
county officers known as Judges of the Probate Court .^ 
It is the business of these officers to examine the wills 
of deceased persons and decide whether they have been 
made as wills by law ought to be made. When a person 
dies without having made a will and leaves no one to 

^ A detailed treatment of the usual methods of taxation is post- 
poned to the end of the book (pages 212-221). 

2 In Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland they are called Judges of 
the Orphans' Court; in Georgia the probate judge has the title of Ordi- 
nary. In New York and New Jersey the probate judges are called Sur- 
rogates. 



THE COUNTY 91 

take charge of his estate, the probate court will appoint 
an Administrator to take charge of it. When a child is 
left without father or mother, the probate court will 
appoint a guardian who will manage the estate until the 
child comes of age. In general, the business of the pro- 
bate court is to see that the property of the dead falls 
into rightful hands. 

(10) The Superintendent of Schools. — In nearly all the 
States there is a county officer whose duty is to look after 
the interests of the public schools of the county. This 
officer usually sets the examinations for teachers, visits 
the schools, makes out courses of study, holds teachers' 
institutes, and improves the schools in eve^y way he 
can. 

(11) The School Board. — ^In a few States a county 
School Board has the general management of the schools 
of the county. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Bound accurately the county in which you Hve, When was it 
organized? What is its area? Its population? Its county seat? 
How came it by its name? What are its largest villages? Is there a 
city situated in it? How many counties are there in this State? 

2. If in your State there are county officers not named in the lesson, 
name these officers and describe the duties of each. 

3. Explain the difference between the words "elected" and "ap- 
pointed." 

4. What qualifications should a sheriff possess? A register of deeds? 
A State's attorney? A county treasurer? A superintendent of schools? 
As far as you know, are the officers of your county chosen on account 
of their fitness for office? 

5. Are you proud of your county? If so, for what reasons? 



92 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT 



6. Draw a map of your county, locating its county seat, and its 
chief towns and villages. 

7. Make out a table showing the titles of your county officers, their 
names, the length of their terms of office and whether they are ap- 
pointed or elected. 



Title 


Name 


Length of term 


Appointed 
or elected 


Salary 


Sheriff 


J. G. Smith 


2 years 


elected 


$1500 



XVII. TOWN GOVERNMENT 

"The town governments of New England proved themselves the 
wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise 
of self-government and for its preservation." — Thomas Jefferson. 

Early Town Government in New England. — In New 

England, after you pass from the governments of the 
home and of the school, the government that you meet 
first, if you do not live in a city or village, is that of the 
toion. 

A town, or tun (toon), in the earliest times wife a cluster 
of farmers' dwellings, barns, and cattle sheds, such as 
may be seen to-day in many parts of Germany. Around 
the tun was either a wall of earth or a dense hedge, and 
outside, encircling the mound or hedge, was a ditch. The 
tun was thus fortified against its foes. In the center of 
the inclosure, usually under a large tree, was held the 
tun moot, or meeting of all the freemen of the tun. At 
this moot newcomers were admitted to dwell within the 
tun, lands were granted to freemen, ''strife of farmer and 
farmer was settled," laws for the government of the tun 
were passed, and officers to execute those laws were elected. 
Two thousand years ago our forefathers governed them- 
selves in the tun moot in the wilds of Germany; when they 
settled in England fifteen hundred years ago they carried 
the tun moot with them; and when, nearly three hundred 

years ago, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they at once 

93 



94 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT 



came together in tun moot, or town meeting, for the pur- 
pose of transacting public affairs. 

The EngUshmen who first settled in New England were 
a very religious people. One of the first things they did 
in a new settlement was to build a church in some place 
convenient for all to attend. This church was called a 




A Town Meeting in Early New England 

meetinghouse, and this was a good name for it, for it was 
a common meeting place for all in the settlement. The 
congregation that met in it on the Sabbath as worshipers 
would meet in it on a week day as citizens and transact 
public affairs. Thus local government in New England 
centered around a church. A congregation of churchgoers 
was organized as a government, and this government was 
called a town. When a town became so large in extent 



TOWN GOVERNMENT 95 

that it was inconvenient for all to attend one church, a new 
church was built and a new town was organized. You 
rarely find a town in New England so large that a person 
cannot with convenience attend a church situated in its 
center. Every male citizen above twenty-one years of age 
who attended the church — and everybody was required 
to go to church — had the right to go to the meeting- 
house and take part in the town meetings. Voters are 
no longer required to attend church, but in other respects 
the town governments of New England to-day are almost 
exactly like those of the early years of our history. 

The Town Meeting.— The most important feature of 
the town government is the town meeting. Once a year 
all the qualified voters of the town hold a meeting to dis- 
cuss measures relating to town affairs, and to take action 
thereon. The meeting is no longer held in a church, but 
in the townhouse, or townhall. When the people have 
assembled, the town clerk calls them to order, and states 
the purposes for which the meeting was called. A mod- 
erator is then chosen to preside over the meeting, and 
business proceeds according to parhamentary rules. In a 
town meeting w^e see pure democracy at work. Instead 
of sending men to conduct affairs for them, as in a repre- 
sentative government, the people are there in person. 
Young and old, rich and poor, take part in the proceed- 
ings, and any citizen present may exert the full force 
of his character and influence. Every measure that is 
brought up is freely discussed and criticised. Those in 
favor of the measure state their argument for it; those 



96 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

opposed to it state their objections. When the discussion 
is at an end a vote is taken, and whatever the result may 
be, all present feel that the will of the people has been 
expressed. All matters relating to the public affairs of 
the town are settled. The most important things done 
are these: 

(1) The rate of taxation is fixed. Money is appropri- 
ated for the schools, for the care of the roads, for the 
support of the poor, for the salaries of officers, and for 
other necessary expenses. 

(2) By-laws are passed for the regulation of local mat- 
ters. The, word hy originally meant town; hence a by-law 
is a town law. A law passed in town meeting regulating 
the speed of automobiles is an example of a by-law. 

(3) Town officers are elected. 

Town Officers. — ^The principal town officers are as fol- 
lows: 

(1) The Selectmen. — ^The general management of town 
affairs during the year is placed in the hands of three, or 
five, or seven, or nine citizens, called Selectmen. These 
officers carry into effect the measures passed at the town 
meeting. They supervise the lajdng out of roads; they 
grant licenses; they care for the poor; they take measures 
to abate nuisances, check the advance of diseases, and 
otherwise preserve the health of the town; they listen to 
complaints against the management of town affairs; they 
represent the town in court when it is sued; they make 
out the warrant when a special town meeting is to be 
called. 



TOWN GOVERNMENT 97 

(2) The Town Clerk calls the town meeting to order 
and keeps a record of the proceedings. In addition to 
this he keeps a record of the births, marriages, and deaths 
in the town, and grants certificates to those wishing to 
marry. In fact, most matters of town record are in his 
keeping. 

(3) Assessors estimate the value of property liable to 
taxation. 

(4) Tax Collectors collect the tax. 

(5) The Town Treasurer receives and pays out the money 
which the town raises by taxation. 

(6) The Overseers of the Poor have charge of the town 
almshouse, and they give rehef to the deserving poor. 

(7) The Constables are peace officers, and every town 
has one or more of them. They arrest for crime, and 
assist the selectmen in executing the law. 

(8) The Surveyors of Highways inspect roads and bridges, 
and are responsible for keeping them in repair. 

(9) Fence Viewers settle disputes that may arise be- 
tween neighbors about partition fences or walls. 

(10) Field Drivers. — When cows, or horses, or other 
animals are found wandering about the town the field 
driver puts them into a pound, and keeps them until their 
rightful owner is found. 

This list of officers is not complete, yet it is long enough 
to show that a great many people take part in the govern- 
ment of a town. It is quite possible that there are towns 
in which there is hardly one intelligent citizen who does 
not sometime in his fife hold public office. This general 
F. Civil Govt.— 7 



98 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

participation in the business of government does much 
to make the people of New England a most wide-awake 
and progressive body of citizens. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

(For Pupils in Towns.) 

1. What kind of men make good selectmen? What should be the 
qualifications of a good town clerk? 

2. What are the boundaries of the town in which you live? When 
was your town organized? Is there a church near its center? 

3. Make out a list of the names of all who now hold town offices. 

4. Should boys and girls be allowed to take part in town meetings? 
Are they represented there? 

5. In what things should a town try to excel? In what does your 
town excel? 

6. How much money is raised by taxation in your town? What is 
the tax rate? Is this higher or lower than the rate in neighboring 
towns? 



XVIII. THE TOWNSHIP 

"The western method of local government [the county-township 
system] for simplicity, symmetry, flexibility, and administrative effi- 
ciency is superior to any other system which the Teuton mind has yet 
produced." — G. E. Howard. 

The Nature of Township Government. — In the Mid- 
dle Atlantic States and in those western States that have 
been settled largely by emigrants from the Middle States, 
such as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, the government that comes 
closest to the door of the citizen is that of th^ township. 
A township is a small portion of a county in which the 
people exercise some of those powders of government which 
are exercised by the town of New England and by the 
county in the southern States. Township government, 
therefore, lies halfway between tow^n government and 
county government. In New England the people of a 
town (by which we mean the people of a small neighbor- 
hood) have nearly all the powers of local government 
in their hands, and very little is left for the county to do. 
In a southern county the people of a small community 
exercise hardly any of the powers of government; every- 
thing is done by the county. Now in a township a few 
of the powers of local government are taken from the 
county and given to the people of a small neighborhood. 
The things done by the township government are usually 
three: it supports public schools, it cares for the roads, 

99 



100 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

and it helps the 'poor. It also, in many States, levies and 
collects taxes with which to pay for these things. 
Township Meetings and Township Elections. — In New 

York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minne- 
sota, Nebraska, and the Dakotas the township resembles 
somewhat the New England town. In these States the 
voters come together once a year — usually in the spring — 
in township meeting and vote on township matters. At 
these meetings little is done except to elect the township 
officers. In some of the above-named States, however, 
after the officers have been elected the voters fix the tax 
rate and do some other things that in New England are 
done at the town meeting. In other words, in the above- 
named States the township resembles a pure democracy. 

In the other States in which there are township gov- 
ernments, that is to say, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, 
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, there are no 
township meetings but only township elections. In these 
States the township is a representative government: the 
voters simply elect the officers and these govern the town- 
ship. 

Officers of the Township. — ^Township officers are not 
precisely the same in any two States, yet in most of the 
States where the township appears there is a set of officers 
whose titles and duties are somewhat as follows; 

(1) The Supervisor or Supervisors (sometimes called 
Trustees) take care of the roads and bridges, erect and keep 
in repair guideposts and watering troughs, and plant shade 
trees along the roadside. They may build and keep in re- 



THE TOWNSHIP 101 

pair a townhouse, in which elections may be held and officers 
of the town may transact the public business. 

(2) The School Directors have control of the public 
schools within the township. Their powers and duties 
have been stated in a previous lesson (p. 25). In some 
States the directors of all the townships in a county meet 
every second or third year and elect a Superintendent 
of Schools for the county. 

(3) The Township Clerk is a secretary for the super- 
visors or trustees. He keeps the records and accounts 
of the township. 

(4) The Assessors. — The chief duty of the township as- 
sessors is like that of town or county assessors. ^Sometimes 
the assessors act also as registrars of voters (p. 49). Some- 
times they keep a record of all births and deaths for the 
township. 

(5) The Tax Collector collects the taxes in the township. 

(6) The Auditors examine the accounts of other officers 
of the township to see that all money has been expended 
properly and honestly. 

(7) The Justice of the Peace ^ holds court on a small 
scale; he acts as a peacemaker between his neighbors 
in their petty disputes; he administers oaths; he per- 
forms the marriage ceremony. 

(8) The Constable acts as the peace officer of the town- 
ship, and is the "arm of the justice of the peace/' much as 
the sheriff is the ''arm of the judge" (p. 88). 

(9) The Overseers of the Poor attend to the needs of the 
* More is said about the Justice of the Peace on pages 144, 145. 



102 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT 



poor. When there is no poorhouse in the county, the 
township supports the poor by sending them provisions 
to their homes or paying some one to provide for them. 
In some States overseers may lay a tax for the support 
of the poor of the township. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

(For Pupils in Townships.) 

1. How many townships in the county in which you Hve? Name 
them. 

2. Bound the township in which you live. What is its population? 
Draw a map of it, locating the townhouse. Locate any villages that 
it may contain. 

3. What is the rate of taxation in your township? How does this 
compare with the rate of adjoining townships? 

4. Are the officers of your township elected by ballot, or by the 
people assembled in town meeting? 

5. Do the supervisors (or trustees) of your township serve as mem- 
bers of a county board of supervisors? 

6. Make out a table showing the titles of your township officers, 
their names, the length of their terms of office, whether they are ap- 
pointed or elected, and the salary or compensation. 



Title 


Name 


Length of term 


Appointed 
or elected 


Salary or 
compensation 













XIX. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 

" I bless God for cities. Cities have been as lamps of life along the 
pathway of humanity and religion. Within them science has given 
birth to her noblest discoveries. Behind their walls freedom has 
fought her noblest battles." — Colton. 

Why Municipal Government is Necessary. — ^The local 
governments thus far studied, the County, the Town, the 
Township, are best fitted to perform the local services of 
farming districts and thinly settled communities. These 
may, therefore, be called the rural governrnents.^ For 
thickly settled communities, for villages,^ boroughs, and 
cities, a special kind of government, known as munici- 
pal government, is necessary. Let us learn why it is nec- 
essary for a densely populated community to have a 
special kind of government. 

There is an old saying that ''Rome was not built in a 
day." This is true of all cities. The miles of streets and 
the grand buildings you see around you in a city were not 
built in a day. A city begins with one building, perhaps 
a flourmill, or a sawmill, or a farmhouse, or a rude shed 
for cattle. Let us try to follow in our imagination the 

^ It is only partly true to speak of the New England town as a 
rural government, for very often the towns of New England are very 
thickly settled and sometimes are cities in almost everything except 
in name. 

^ What is called a village in some States is in other States called a 
town, but the word town here does not mean the town discussed 
in Lesson XVII. 

103 



104 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

growth of a city. Let us suppose the first building is a 
sawmill built in a forest of fine timber. 

Soon after the mill is built its manager builds a home 
for himself and family. In a short time rows of houses 
are built as dwellings for the men who work in the mill 
and for those who cut down the trees. These rows of 
houses are the beginnings of streets. The famihes who 
dwell in these houses must be supplied with groceries and 
other necessaries; hence it is not long before a merchant 
comes and erects a building for a store. The horses that 
haul the logs must be shod and the wagons repaired; 
hence a blacksmith shop and a wheelwright shop must be 
built. A railroad is built near the settlement, and this 
brings a station and a station master. 

The place must now have a name. A natural name for 
it would be Millville. Let us call it that. Millville is 
prosperous, and many who wish to join in its prosperity 
are attracted to it. The doctor and the druggist, the 
shoemaker and the carpenter, with their famihes, come 
to try their fortune. Soon a schoolhouse is built, and 
a church and a house for the preacher. Another mill is 
built. This means more workmen and more merchants. 
Now comes the tailor, the seamstress, the music teacher, 
the barber, and baker, and many others. 

Millville has a thousand inhabitants, but it has no 
separate government. It is governed precisely as the 
more thinly settled region around it is governed. It pays 
a large share of the taxes of the county in which it is 
situated, yet it gets but little return for the money. In 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 105 

the spending of the taxes but httle attention is given to 
its needs. It needs street lamps, sidewalks, sewers, water- 
works, policemen, firemen. It also needs certain powers 
of government that are necessary wherever a large num- 
ber of people live together. As it is, in Millville each 
person acts in reference to his neighbor's comfort about 
as he pleases. He paves the sidewalk in front of his 
house, or does not pave it, as best suits him; he helps to 
buy oil for the street lamps, or he refuses; if he sees fit, 
he may throw garbage into the street, and commit other 
offenses against the health of the town : there are no officers 
and no laws to hinder him. When there is a drunken row, 
there are no officers to arrest the offenders. % 

Village and Borough Government. — In order to change 
this state of things and make Millville a safer, cleaner, and 
more beautiful place in which to live, its inhabitants get 
for it a special government. The people of the settlement 
organize as a village, or borough, or town. They are per- 
mitted to do this by a State law which provides for the 
government of villages or towns. They apply to the 
judge of some court or to some other officer and get a 
charter for a municipal government. In this charter the 
village is given a legal name and its boundaries are care- 
fully stated. The charter, or the State law, also states 
what officers the village is to have and what powers the 
officers are to exercise. What these officers are called 
and what are their powers can be learned only from the 
village charter or the law itself. If you live in a chartered 
village by all means get a copy of your village charter 



106 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

and study it. Doubtless the charter provides for a village 
president, or mayor, or chief burgess, and for a body of 
trustees or commissioners or councilmen or burgesses. In 
addition the village may have a clerk, a treasurer, a tax col- 
lector, a constable, a justice of the peace, and a street com- 
missioner. 

Under their charter the citizens of Millville begin the 
business of governing a village. A police officer is em- 
ployed, waterworks are built, a fire engine is bought, 
sewers are laid, streets are paved and lighted and kept 
clean, better schoolhouses and better schools are pro- 
vided. To pay for all these things village or borough taxes 
are levied upon the property holders. 

We will suppose that under its new government Mill- 
ville is stirred with new life. More mills are built; large 
factories employing hundreds of people are set in opera- 
tion. The population rapidly and steadily increases. 
In the course of time, instead of having a thousand in- 
Ijabitants, it has come to have many thousands. It is 
now found that the village form of government does not 
suit so large a place. The officers provided by the vil- 
lage charter are too few in number and the powers are 
too few and too small. Millville has become a city and it 
must have a government suitable to a city. 

The City Charter. — When the village becomes a city 
it still has municipal government and still does business 
under a charter. 

City charters are usually granted by the State Legisla- 
ture. In a few States, however, the people of a city have a 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT l07 

voice in the making of the charter under which they are to 
live. They draw up a charter suitable to their needs and 
present it to their Legislature for approval. 

The city charter provides for a great many more officers 
than a village charter and grants a great many more powers. 
The charter of a large city is sometimes a volume of several 
hundred pages. The names and titles of the officers of a 
large city would alone fill many pages of this book. Because 
of its size, then, it would be impossible here to describe fully 
the charter of a large city. 

There is another reason why a description of a city 
charter might not be satisfactory: the Legislature is 
constantly changing the. charters of cities. S^ if I should 
take the charter of one of the cities of your State and 
describe the government of that city, it might happen 
that before my description found its way into print the 
Legislature would change the charter, and my description 
would be no description at all. If you live in a city and 
want a full and true description of your city government 
you must get it from the last charter granted to your city. 

Still, in spite of the different ways in which legislatures 
treat cities in the different States, and in spite of the 
constant changes that are being made in charters, mu- 
nicipal government all over the country is very much 
the same. The city everywhere has nearly the same kind 
of work to do, and to do this work properly there must 
be officers of a certain kind and these oflftcers must have 
powers of a certain kind: What these officers and powers 
are will be the subject of the next lesson. 



108 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

(For Pupils in Villages, Boroughs, and Towns.) 

1. Obtain a copy of your village (or borough) charter, and examine 
it for answers to the following questions: 

(a) When was the charter granted? 

(&) By what authority was it granted? 

(c) What is the title of the executive officer of the village? 

(d) What is the governing body called? What are the powers of 

this body? How often does it meet? 

(e) Are the officers of the village elected or appointed? 

(/) What powers of taxation does the charter grant? Could the 
people of the village be taxed to build a bridge costing $50,000? 
One costing $5,000? 

(g) Who are entitled to vote at village elections? 

(h) What are the boundaries of the village? 

2. What improvements are needed in your village? Can they be 
secured under the terms of the charter? 

3. Have you seen villages much more attractive than the one in 
which you live? What makes a village attractive? 

4. Are the officers of your village slow and old-fashioned, or pro- 
gressive and modern, in their ideas? 

5. Prepare a table for village officers similar to that which was 
prepared for county officers. 



XX. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT {Continued) 

"The modern city has come to be a huge corporation for carrying 
on a huge business with many branches.'' — John Fiske. 

The Three Great Departments of City Government.— 

In the city we see very clearly the separation of power 
that gives us the three departments of government. The 
municipal charter almost always provides for a law- 
making department, an executive department, and a 
judicial department. But all judicial officers are really 
State officers, for they act in the name oi the State 
even though they are elected for a city and by the 
voters of a city. The judicial department of a city con- 
sists simply of some State courts holding their sessions 
within the borders of the city. So it will not be necessary 
here to study the workings of the judicial department of 
city government, for that subject will be treated later 
when we come to study the workings of the judicial de- 
partment of the State government (Lesson XXVI). 
Here we need to study only the legislative and executive 
departments of city government. 

The City Council. — ^The legislative department of a city 
is usually called the City Council. In large cities the 
Council often consists of two branches or houses, some- 
times called the first and second branches, sometimes the 
Board of Aldermen and the Board of Councilmen. The 

city is divided into wards, and the voters of each ward 

109 



110 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT 



elect one or more councilmen to represent them in the 
City Council. If there are twenty wai»ds in the city, the 
Council will consist of twenty, or forty, or sixty members, 
according as there are one, two, or three members from 




A City Hall 

each ward. These councilmen meet in the City Hall, and 
make laws for the government of the city. The laws that 
a City Council makes are called ordinances. An ordinance, 
then, is a city law. These ordinances of the Council relate 
to almost everything that concerns life in a city. There 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 111 

is not room here to speak of all the things done by a City 
Council; a few of the things done by it, however, may be 
mentioned. 

When you are born, the City Council requires that your 
name be registered in the book of births; when you are 
old enough to go to school, it provides for you schools and 
teachers and, sometimes, books; if your parents are too 
poor to support you, it will help you with food and cloth- 
ing; when you go out from your home, you walk upon 
streets paved and cleaned and lighted by the Council; if 
you should be attacked, its policemen will arrest your 
assailant; if you wish to engage in some business, it will 
probably demand of you a license; if you wislfc to build a 
home, you must first get from it permission to build; if your 
house takes fire, its firemen come rushing to put the fire out. 
The Council provides for the removal of garbage from your 
yard; it employs men to inspect the quality of your food 
and drink; it provides parks and open squares where you 
may get a breath of fresh air and a glimpse of nature; it 
causes to be brought into your house a supply of fresh 
water, and it provides sewers to carry waste water away 
from your house; if in your old age you shall be infirm 
and poor, the Council will care for you in its asylums; at 
last, when you shall die, it will grant a permit for your 
burial, and the fact of your death will have to be registered 
in its book of deaths. 

Thus from birth to death the acts of the City Council 
affect the lives of the people in the city. How important, 
then, it is that that body should be composed of honest 



112 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

and intelligent men! How tireless should be the efforts 
of voters to secure the election of such men! Remember 
this : If you succeed in getting honorable, wide-awake men 
in your City Council, you will have a well-governed city. 
As far as you know, have you such men now in your City 
Council? 

The Mayor; Municipal Executive Department. — ^At 
the head of the municipal executive department stands 
the Mayor. This officer is nearly always elected directly 
by the people, although in a very few cases he is chosen 
by the City Council. His term of office varies from one 
to four years. The chief duty of the Mayor is to carry 
into effect the ordinances of the Council. In most cities 
the Mayor can veto an ordinance of the Council. When 
an ordinance is vetoed it is generally sent back to the 
Council, where it is voted upon again and if it is passed 
again by a two-thirds (or three-fifths) vote, it is a lawful 
ordinance, notwithstanding the Mayor's objection. 

The work a city government has to do is very great, and 
it takes a small army of men to perform it. The mu- 
nicipal business is done by departments. At the head of 
each department there is an executive officer or a board. 
The heads of these departments (or boards) are usually 
either appointed by the Mayor or elected by the people. 
When they are appointed by the Mayor they sometimes 
must be approved by the City Council. 

The municipal executive departments are few or many 
according as the city is small or large, and according as 
the municipal work is light or heavy. In many good-sized 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 113 

wide-awake cities you will find the following departments, 
officers, and boards: 

(1) A Department of Finance with a comptroller, or 
auditor, and assessors and collectors of taxes. 

(2) A Department of Law with a city solicitor, or corpo- 
ration counsel, who acts as the city's lawyer. 

(3) A Department of Public Safety with fire commis- 
sioners, health commissioners, inspectors of buildings, in- 
spectors of boilers, inspectors of plumbing. 

(4) A Department of Parks and Squares with a board 
of park commissioners. 

(5) A Department of Education with a board of school 
commissioner^. % 

(6) A Department of Charities with a board of overseers 
of the poor. 

(7) A Department of Police with a board of police com- 
missioners. 

(8) A Department of Highways with a street commis- 
sioner, a city engineer, and a superintendent of lamps and 
lighting. 

Many cities do not have all the above departments 
and officers, but many large cities have them all and many 
more besides. Serving in these departments are assistants 
and employees, who in many cities are numbered by 
thousands and in a few by tens of thousands. 

Services of City Government. — In the paragraph on 

the City Council mention was made of many of the usual 

and more important services of city government. But 

should the city attempt to do more than it usually does? 
F. Civil Govt.— 8 



114 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

It supplies the people with water; should it supply them 
with gas also? Should it own and operate the electric cars? 
It provides children with an education; should it provide 
them with a midday lunch also? Should it furnish the 
music for the parks? Should it own and operate the tele- 
phone? Should it lay pipes and supply heat to famihes? 
These are a few of the questions you will be called upon to 
answer when you become voters. You may not be able 
to answer them intelligently now; but if you will begin 
to study them now, when the time comes for you to vote 
and act, you will not vote and act like blind men. 

Surely if you live in a city the subject of municipal 
government deserves all the attention you can give it. 
Sooner or later you will discover that much of the happi- 
ness of your life depends upon the way the affairs of your 
city are managed. A well-governed city is one of the 
best places in the world for one to live in, while a badly 
governed city is one of the worst places. If when you are 
grown you will try to make the government of your city 
better, your efforts may be richly rewarded, for you may 
be the cause of making the lives of thousands of people 
happier. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 

(For Pupils who live in Cities."^ 

1. In what county is the city in which you live situated? When was 
it organized? What are its boundaries? What is its population? 
What are its industries? Can a city be situated in a town? 

2. How many wards in your city? In which ward do you live? 
Bound the ward in which you live. How many councilmen or alder* 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 115 

men does each ward in your city send to the City Council? What are 
the quahfications of a good councilman? Name the councilmen who 
represent your ward. 

3. Let a pupil obtain a copy of the report of the police department 
and describe its work. The report will show how many policemen are 
employed, what are their salaries, the number of arrests made, the 
causes for which the arrests were made, and other interesting facts. 
Reports of other departments may be similarly studied. 

4. How does the rate of taxation in your city compare with that of 
other cities of equal size? 

5. What is the amount of the debt of your city? 

6. Does your city own its gas and electric light plants? 

7. Has your city the reputation of being well governed? 

8. What are the quahfications of a good Mayor? 

9. How may young people help the cause of good city government? 



XXI. THE STATE 

"States make up the mass, the body, the organic stuff of the govern- 
ment of the country. To them is intrusted our daily welfare." 

— Woodrow Wilson. 

The Thirteen Colonies. — While studying the govern- 
ment of the city and town and county mention was made 
now and then of a larger government that is above the 
local governments and that holds them together and gives 
them their power. This larger government is the State, 
and it is the State that we are now going to study. We may 
best begin the study of the State by glancing at the history 
of State government in the United States. 

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, three mil- 
lion English-speaking people lived along the coast of the 
Atlantic in thirteen distinct and separate colonies, — 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South CaroHna, and 
Georgia. These colonies were all dependent upon the 
English government; their inhabitants were subjects of 
the English king. But England was three thousand miles 
away, and it took, in those times, many weeks for a vessel 
to cross the Atlantic. As a result of this wide separation, 
England could not govern an American colony in the 
same way that she governed one of her counties at home. 
A colony in many things was allowed to govern itself. It 

116 



THE STATE 117 

elected its own lawmakers, it appointed its own judges. 
Rhode Island and Connecticut even elected their own Gov- 
ernors also, and thus exercised the three powers of govern- 
ment, — the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. 
Aside from the tie that bound it to England, a colony had 
no other ties. Each colony was independent of all the other 
colonies. Pennsylvania had no more to do with its neigh- 
bor Maryland in the way of government than it had with 
Prussia. 

The Thirteen Original States. — By the Revolution each 
colony made itself in many respects a free and independent 
nation, — a State. Instead of thirteen English colonies, 
there were thirteen American States. As quickly as possi- 
ble, the people of each colony took up the difficult task 
of self-government. The first thing to be done was to 
change the colonial government into a State government. 
This was done by representatives of the people of a State 
agreeing on a plan as to just how the State was to be 
governed. This plan was put in writing and was called 
the constitution of the State. Each colony made for 
itself a constitution that suited best its own wishes and 
its own needs. The constitution of Virginia differed from 
that of Massachusetts, because the needs of Virginia were 
different from those of Massachusetts. 

You must not suppose that the new State government 
that was formed differed very much from the old colonial 
government. The people of a colony, after many years of 
hard experience, had built up the kind of government they 
liked best, and they had become used to obeying certain 



118 STATE GOVERNMENT 

laws and observing certain customs. Now it is not pos- 
sible — and you should think of this when you hear new 
schemes of government proposed— it is not possible for 
a people suddenly to make a complete change in their 
laws, customs, and habits. So the new State governments 
were necessarily very much like the old colonial govern- 
ments. The colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island 
did not form new governments at all, but took the old 
charters granted to them by England as their new con- 
stitutions. 

The Admitted States.— In 1788-1790 the thirteen 
original States formed a Union under the Constitution of 
the United States. It was not long before other commu- 
nities outside of the present boundaries of the original States 
wished to join the Union. Each was allowed to do this as 
soon as it had grown large enough in population and after 
it had adopted for itself a constitution that was acceptable 
to Congress. When these requirements were fulfilled, the 
new community was admitted to the Union as a State. 
Vermont was the first new State admitted. This was in 
1791. The next year Kentucky was admitted; and soon 
from time to time until thirty-three new States have been 
admitted into the Union, making forty-six in all. The last 
to be admitted was Oklahoma. 

The Outlines of a State Government. — From their 
history you would expect the governments of the several 
States to differ from one another and you would expect 
them also to resemble one another. Most of the people 
of the colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia were 



THE STATE 119 

Englishmen in blood and speech and they all had English 
notions of liberty and government and law. When the 
United States became a nation what had been English 
before became American, and as new States came into 
the Union they came in with American notions of liberty, 
government, and law.^ So it is quite natural that the 
governments of the forty-six States should be alike in 
many important respects. Each State 

(1) Has a popular government. 

(2) Has a written constitution. 

(3) Has the three great departments of government. 

(4) Supports a system of public schools. 

(5) Provides for a system of local self-go^rnment. 

(6) Makes most of the laws that regulate the citizen 
in his daily conduct and in his daily pursuits. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Name the States of the Union. 

2. Bound the State in which you Hve. Is it one of the original 
States? If it is not, when was it admitted into the Union? 

3. What is the origin of the name of your State? What is its nick- 
name? What is the coat-of-arms of your State? 

4. How many States have a greater population than your State? 
What is the area of your State? How many States have a greater 
area? How many States as large as the smallest State in the Union 
could be made out of the largest State in the Union? 

5. Write a short composition on "Our State," telling about the 
history of your State, its size, its population, its industries, its re- 
sources, its schools, its cities, its great men, and giving reasons why 
you are proud of it. 

^ Louisiana when admitted (in 1812) had the French system of law. 



XXII. THE STATE CONSTITUTION 

"The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make 
and alter their constitution of government." — George Washington. 

Meaning of the Word "Constitution." — You have 
met the word Constitution several times aheady, and, 
since you will meet it many times hereafter, you 
ought to try to understand clearly what it means. The 
word comes from constituo, a Latin word which means 
fix, establish, settle. The constitution of a debating society 
is a set of fixed rules by which the society is to be per- 
manently governed, and from which it cannot rightfully 
depart. The constitution of a State is a document con- 
taining those fixed principles and rules by which a State 
must be governed, and from which neither the Governor, 
the lawmaker, nor the judge may depart. The consti- 
tution may be called the fundamental law of the State, 
because it is the foundation upon which all laws are built, 
just as the foundation of a house is the part upon which 
all the other parts rest. Think of a constitution as the 
foundation plan upon which a system of laws may be built. 

Description of a State Constitution. — In the last les- 
son you learned that every State has a written constitu- 
tion. Since this constitution is the fundamental law of 
a State you ought to have a clear notion of what it is like. 
I have before me the constitution of one of the States, 
and I will attempt to describe it to you very briefly. 

120 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 121 

It begins with a Declaration of Rights^ which declares 
that a people have the right to govern themselves; that 
all citizens have a right to a trial by jury; that the Gov- 
ernor, the judges, and the lawmakers are responsible to 
the people for their actions; that all male adult citizens 
have the right to vote; that the legislative, executive, and 
judicial powers of government shall be separate; that there 
shall be freedom of speech and debate; that no one shall be 
compelled to give evidence against himself in a court of 
law; that the press shall be free; that no title of nobility 
shall be granted; that a man's rehgion shall not be made 
a test for holding office; that the people have in themselves 
the right to form a new government. ^ 

After declaring these and some other rights, the con- 
stitution takes up the three departments of government. 
As to the executive department, it states who may be 
elected Governor, how and when he may be elected, how 
long he shall serve, and what are his powers and duties. 
The powers and duties of other executive officers are also 
defined. After the executive we come to the legislative 
department. We are told what shall be the name of the 
Legislature, how it shall be composed, who may be its 
members, where it shall meet, how a law shall be passed, 
and, in a general way, what kind of laws shall be passed, 
and what kind may not be passed. After the legislative 
comes the judicial department. The qualifications, duties, 
and powers of judges are explained, and the boundaries 
of the different judicial circuits are defined. 

Last of all comes the miscellaneous provisions. These 



122 STATE GOVERNMENT 

relate to education, corporations, public debts, taxation, 
and amendments. 

The constitution altogether would make about forty 
pages of this book. There are forty-six States, and each 
State has its own constitution and no two constitutions 
are alike, but all the State constitutions have a strong 
resemblance to the one that has been described. 

How the Constitution of a State is Made. — ^The con- 
stitution of a State is made by a body of men who are 
chosen to make a constitution and to do nothing else. 
This body is called the Constitutional Convention. This 
convention is composed of delegates elected by the people 
of the counties and cities of the State. In this constitu- 
tional convention the needs and wishes of the people of 
the State are discussed, and a constitution is carefully 
drawn up. 

After a constitution is agreed upon by the convention, 
it is usually submitted to the people to be voted upon. 
If a majority of the popular vote is cast for it, it stands 
as the constitution — the fixed plan of government. If 
it does not receive a majority of the votes, no further 
attention is paid to it; the work of the convention was 
in vain. If the people reject a proposed constitution, 
they must live under the old constitution until another 
convention is called, and a constitution is framed that 
will suit them. There have been some constitutional 
conventions that did not submit the constitution to the 
people to be voted upon, but instead declared it in force 
at once. In most of the States, however, the constitution 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 123 

was voted upon and adopted by the people before it be- 
came the law. 

How a Constitution is Changed. — We have called the 
constitution the fixed, unchanging plan of government. 
But it would not do for a constitution to remain un- 
changed and unchangeable forever. It sometimes hap- 
pens that a plan is good at one time and yet bad at an- 
other time; and a constitution that might have been 
good and wise in the year 1850, may, by the year 1950, 
have become foolish or harmful. If, then, there is some- 
thing in a constitution that ought not to be there, or if 
something ought to be there that is not there, how shall 
a change be made? The answer is: By amendment; the 
constitution is mended where it is weak. This is done as 
follows: The Legislature of the State passes the amend- 
ment which it thinks ought to be inserted in the con- 
stitution, and then submits the amendment to the people 
to be voted upon, for or against. If it gets the requisite 
number of the votes of the electors, the amendment be- 
comes a part of the constitution. 

When an entirely new constitution is desired, a new 
constitutional convention must be called. This is usu- 
ally done as follows: The Legislature submits to the peo- 
ple the question, whether they wish a new constitutional 
convention or not. If the people vote yes, the Legislature 
provides for the election of the delegates to the con- 
vention. The election is then held and the elected dele- 
gates meet in convention, make a new constitution, and 
submit it to the people to be vojted upon, as has been 



124 STATE GOVERNMENT 

explained. You see that a constitution is adopted directly 
by the votes of the people. It is not adopted by the 
representatives of the people: it is very nearly the work 
of a pure democracy. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 

1. Get a copy of the constitution of your State, and examine it for 
answers to the following questions: 

(a) When was the constitution adopted by the people? 

(h) About how many pages of this book would it make? 

(c) What are the principal rights declared? 

(d) Are there any amendments to the constitution as it now stands? 

If so, when and why were they adopted? 

(e) What provision of the constitution seems to be the most impor- 

tant? 
(/) Do you find anything in the constitution that you would like to 

see changed? 
(g) How would you proceed to get the constitution changed? 

2. Elect a committee consisting of classmates to draw up a constitu- 
tion for the government of a debating society. Provide in the consti- 
tution for election of officers, time and place of holding meetings, 
qualifications for membership, dues, fines, etc. The committee cannot 
do good work imless it takes as a model some suitable constitution 
already drawn up. The constitution drawn up should be submitted to 
the whole class for approval. 

3. How many constitutions has your State had during its entire 
history? 

4. Would it be wise for Maine and Louisiana to exchange constitu- 
tions? 

5. Does the constitution described in the lesson resemble closely the 
constitution of your State? 



XXIII. THE STATE LEGISLATURE 

" While acting as the representative of the people I shall be governed 
by their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing 
what their will is, and upon all others I shall do what my own judgment 
teaches me will best advance their interests." — Abraham Lincoln. 

When and Where the State Legislature Meets. — Each 
State has its capital, or the city in which the business of 




A State Capitol 

the State government is transacted. If you have ever 
been in the capital of your State, you have doubtless 
visited the capitol, or Statehouse. This is usually a hand- 

125 



126 STATE GOVERNMENT 

some building, containing many halls and offices. In 
this building is done the most important work of the 
State government. Here the Governor of the State and 
his assistants have their offices; here the highest judges 
of the State hold their courts; here the Legislature of the 
State meets to make laws. 

The Two Branches of the Legislature. — Let us sup- 
pose that you are in the Statehouse on the morning a 
Legislature assembles for the first time. When the hour 
for meeting comes, the lawmakers, who have been mov- 
ing busily about in the corridors, talking with one another, 
divide into two bodies. The smaller number meet in a 
room at one end of the Statehouse. The men who meet 
in this room are somewhat advanced in years; they move 
about in a quiet and dignified manner. Many of them 
seem to be familiar with the place and to know how to 
begin with the business. These men are senators, this is 
the Senate chamber, and this branch of the Legislature 
is the Senate. 

The larger number of lawmakers assemble in a large 
hall at the opposite end of the Statehouse. This body, as 
we look upon it from a gallery, differs much in appear- 
ance from the Senate. The men are of all ages, from the 
young man of two and twenty to the gray-haired man of 
seventy. A few of them are self-possessed and seem to 
be familiar with their surroundings, but many of them 
act as if they were in a strange place. These men are 
representatives, and this is the House of Representatives. 

The Legislature of a State is always divided into these 



THE STATE LEGISLATURE 127 

two branches, — an upper house, or Senate, and a lower 
house, or House of Representatives. In some States the 
lower house is called the Assembly, in others it is called 
the House of Delegates, in New Jersey it is called the 
General Assembly. In many of the States General As- 
sembly is a name for the whole Legislature. 

Election of Members of the Legislature. — Both the 
lower house and the Senate are representative bodies, that 
is, the members of both are sent to the capital to act in 
the place of the people. 

The counties (or towns) and cities are represented in 
the House of Representatives according to population. 
A county (or town), if it is small, may have bi^t one repre- 
sentative, while a county with a large population may 
have two, or three, or four. In the same way a city may be 
represented by one, two, or more representatives, ac- 
cording as it is small or large. 

How is the number of representatives for a county or 
city determined? Every five or ten years a census of the 
people is taken, — that is, the people are counted, — and 
from this census it can be determined how many represen- 
tatives a county or city is entitled to. If it is the law that 
there should be at least one representative for 10,000 people, 
then a county with a population of 10,000 or under would 
be entitled to one representative; a county with a popula- 
tion of more than 10,000 and less than 20,000 would have 
two representatives; a city of 50,000 people, according to 
this rule, would have five representatives. But a lawmaking 
body should not be so large as to make it difficult to trans- 



128 STATE GOVERNMENT 

act business in a quiet and deliberate manner. A State with 
1,000,000 inhabitants, represented by one representative 
for every 10,000 people, would have a House of Representa- 
tives consisting of 100 members. If the population of 
the State increases to 2,000,000, how would the law have 
to be changed so that the number of representatives 
would still be 100? 

A senator represents a larger number of people than is 
represented by a member of the House. The State is 
divided into senatorial districts, and from each of these 
districts one senator is elected. A senatorial district may 
include several counties, or several senators may represent 
one county. It is generally provided by law that senators 
shall be older than representatives, and for this reason 
they are supposed to be wiser than members of the lower 
house. They are elected to serve for longer terms than 
representatives, and they usually are men who have had 
more experience in matters of government. 

Organization. — After a roll call of the members, the 
first thing that is done in the newly elected House of 
Representatives is to choose a presiding officer, called a 
Speaker. The Speaker takes the chair, and then the 
House proceeds to elect some one who is not a member, 
as its Clerk or Secretary. The duty of this official is to 
write out in a large book, called the Journal, a full ac- 
count of everything that takes place in the House. The 
House next elects a S erg eant-at- Arms, an officer whose 
duty it is to keep order in the House, and to bring absent 
members to their seats when their presence is needed to 



THE STATE LEGISLATURE 129 

make a qitorum, that is, a sufficient number of members 
to do business. 

When the clerk and sergeant-at-arms, and such minor 
officials as messengers and doorkeepers, have been chosen 
by the vote of the House, the Speaker announces the 
Committees of the House. 

A committee of the House consists of a small number 
of members — three, or five, or seven, or nine — who have 
charge of some particular branch of legislative business. 
Thus if the Speaker appoints five members as the Com- 
mittee on Education, all matters coming up in the House 
relating to education are first referred to this committee. 
There are a great many committees. The mo|t important 
are those on Finance, Corporations, the Judiciary, Elec- 
tions, Appropriations, Education, Labor, Manufactures, 
Agriculture, Public Buildings. 

If we had remained in the Senate during its opening 
hour, we should have seen almost the same things that we 
saw in the House. There might have been some differ- 
ence in the matter of the presiding officer. Most of the 
States have a Lieutenant Governor, and when this is the 
case, this officer, by virtue of his office, acts as President 
or Chairman of the Senate. Yet even where there is a 
Lieutenant Governor, the Senate elects a President pro 
tempore, who serves in the absence of that officer. So we 
may say that the Senate is organized in the same way that 
we saw the House of Representatives organized. It elects 
its Clerk, its Sergeant-at-Arms, its messengers and door- 
keepers, and the President announces just such committees 

F. Civil Govt.— 9 



130 STATE GOVERNMENT 

as are announced in the House. After the two houses have 
been organized as described, the Legislature is ready to 
begin its work,— to make laws for the welfare of the people. 

QUESTIONS FOR ORIGINAL WORK 

(Answers to a number of these questions can be found in the consti- 
tution of the State.) 

1. Is the capital of your State situated in the most suitable place? 
Are the citizens of the State proud of their Statehouse? 

2. What is the name of the lower house of the Legislature of your 
State? What is the name of the Legislature taken as a whole? When 
does the Legislature meet? How long may it continue in session? 

3. What are the qualifications for a senator in your State? For a 
representative? Do you know the name of the senator that represents 
you in the Senate? How many representatives in your Legislature? 
How many senators? 

4. What is the method of representation in your State? Is it gen- 
erally regarded as a just method? 

5. Is there a Lieutenant Governor in your State? 

6. What is the compensation of a senator? Of a representative? 
Lawmakers in England receive no pay for their services. Is that a 
good rule? 

7. What is "mileage"? What is regarded as a quorum in the Leg- 
islature of your State? 



XXIV. THE STATE LEGISLATURE (Continued) 

"The convention, the campaign, the election, the division of the 
powers of government, the exercise of poHtical rights, are merely for the 
purpose of making a law." — F. N. Thorpe. 

How a Law is Made. — Let us now see how a law is 

passed in the Legislature. We will suppose that many 
people in the State wish a law to be passed, compelling 
railroad companies to run their tracks, wherever there is a 
road or street crossing, either above or below the road or 
street, so that the lives of pedestrians or thgse riding in 
vehicles may not be endangered. How will they get the 
law passed? They will get one of their representatives in 
the Legislature to take up their cause for them. A mem- 
ber, let us say, of the House, will prepare a hill, that is, 
the draft of a law, which compels railroads to lay their 
tracks either above or below grade at all public crossings. 
When the day arrives for introducing the bill, the mem- 
ber gives it to the Clerk of the House to read. This is 
called the first reading} 

After it is read the Speaker immediately refers the bill 
to the proper committee, which, in this case, is the Com- 
mittee on Railroads. In a few days the committee in 
its private room will give attention to the bill. Friends 
of the bill will appear before the committee and speak in 

^ The "first reading" often consists only of the reading of the title 
of the bill. 

131 



132 STATE GOVERNMENT 

its favor; opponents of it will also be present to speak 
against it. After hearing both sides of the question, the 
committee makes its report to the House. If the com- 
mittee thinks there is no reason for such a law, it reports 
'^ unfavorably,"- and there the matter will probably end: 
the bill is '^killed in committee." But if the committee 
thinks well of the bill, it reports ^'favorably." 

This means that in the opinion of the committee the 
bill ought to become a law. The title of the bill is again 
read in the House, and if no objection is raised, it is al- 
lowed to pass upon its second reading. 

In its regular order the bill is taken up for its third and 
last reading. It is now read in full by the Clerk, and a 
discussion of it begins. Speeches are made in favor of it, 
and against it. If a member wishes to change a particular 
part of the bill, he offers an amendment to it. The amend- 
ment is voted upon, and if it receives a majority of the 
votes, the amendment becomes a part of the bill; if the 
amendment is voted down, the bill remains as it was be- 
fore. After a full discussion and debate, the measure 
comes to a final vote. The Speaker asks the House, ^' Shall 
the bill pass?" The House answers the question by taking 
a vote. If a majority vote aye (yes), the bill passes; if a 
majority vote no, or if the noes equal the ayes, the bill is 
lost; it is ^^ killed in the House." 

Let us suppose it passes in the House. It is then taken 
by the messenger of the House to the Senate. Here it 
has the same history that it had in the House. It is 
referred by the President of the Senate to the proper com- 



THE STATE LEGISLATURE 133 

mittee, is read three times upon three different days, is 
fully discussed upon its last reading, is possibly amended, 
and is then voted upon. If it passes in the Senate with 
amendments, it must go back to the House in order that 
a vote may be taken upon it as amended by the Senate. 
When it has passed both Senate and House in the same 
form, the bill has passed the Legislature. 

In nearly all the States, however, a bill that has passed 
both houses of the Legislature is not yet a law, but must 
be sent to the Governor of the State for his approval. If 
the Governor signs it, or if he takes . no action upon it 
within a fixed number of days, it becomes a law. The 
Governor may, however, veto the bill (p. 76)*and send it 
back with his objections stated in writing. The Legislature 
may then take another vote upon the bill, and if it again 
passes both houses, it becomes a law in spite of the Gov- 
ernor's veto. But in order to pass it over the Governor's 
veto, it must, as a rule, get more than a bare majority of 
votes. In some States it must receive the votes of two- 
thirds of the members present; in others it must receive a 
majority of the votes of all the members elected. 

The Initiative and Referendum. — In several States, as 
in South Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Oklahoma, and Maine, the 
voters, if they care to do so, may engage personally in 
the business of lawmaking. This they may do by mak- 
ing use of a device known as the ^'initiative and referen- 
dum." By this device a certain per cent of the voters 
may propose [the initiative) to the Legislature a bill which 
must be enacted into a proposed law and then referred 



134 STATE GOVERNMENT 

back {the referendum) to the people to be voted upon. 
Also, where the initiative and referendum is in force, the 
voters may keep their eyes on the work of the Legislature, 
and if they desire they may demand the privilege of voting 
on any law that the Legislature has passed. These are 
the words of the constitution of Oklahoma : 

''The people reserve to themselves the power to pro- 
pose laws and to enact or reject the same at the polls 
independent of the legislature, and also reserve power at 
their own option, to approve or reject at the polls any 
act of the legislature." 

What the Legislature of a State May Do.— The best 
way to learn what the Legislature of a State may do, is 
to learn first what it may not do. First, it may not pass 
a law that is contrary to the constitution of the State. 
Second, it may not pass a law contrary to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. When we come to study this 
Constitution, we shall learn that there are certain powers 
of government granted to Congress, the body that makes 
laws for the United States. For instance, one of the 
powers granted to Congress is to manage the post offices 
of the country. A State Legislature, therefore, has no 
right to make laws relating to post offices. Again, in the 
Constitution of the United States, certain things are men- 
tioned which a State must not do. For example, a State 
must not coin money. Hence, a State Legislature has no 
right to establish a mint. 

Members of a State Legislature, then, should keep 
these two things in mind: First, they may not make laws 



THE STATE LEGISLATURE 135 

contrary to the constitution of their own State; and, 
second, they may not make laws contrary to the Consti- 
tution of the United States. So long as it does not vio- 
late either of these two rules, a State Legislature is free 
to pass almost any law it pleases. It would take too long 
to name all the laws that can be passed, and that are 
passed, in the Legislature of a State. Sometimes at one 
session more than a thousand laws are passed. The fol- 
lowing is a list of a few of the things done by a State Leg- 
islature: 

(1) It grants charters, or makes a general law, for the 
government of cities, boroughs, and villages; it also grants 
charters; or makes a general law, for the or^nization of 
railroad companies, banks, colleges, and many other in- 
stitutions, public and private. 

(2) It makes laws for the government of the public 
schools. 

(3) It makes laws regulating taxation, licenses, fees. 

(4) It defines the boundaries of counties and towns. 

(5) It makes laws for the punishment of crime, such as 
treason, murder, arson, theft, bribery, forgery, fraud, perjury. 

(6) It makes laws concerning property, such as relate 
to the sale of lands, the giving of mortgages, the granting 
of deeds, the making of wills, the settlement of the estates 
of bankrupts, the management of the estates of the dead. 

(7) It makes laws concerning charity, health, marriage, 
divorce. 

(8) It makes laws concerning the qualifications of vot- 
ers and the time and manner of holding elections. 



136 STATE GOVERNMENT 

(9) It makes laws governing railroads, steamboats, ca- 
nals, telegraph companies, telephone companies. 

(10) It makes laws regulating hunting, fishing, mining, 
manufacturing, trading. 

It is plain that most of the laws that regulate us in our 
daily conduct, and in our daily pursuits, are made by the 
State. 

Honest Men for the Legislature. — Since the duties of 
the State lawmaker are so many and his powers are so 
great, citizens should make every effort to elect only honest 
and intelligent men to the Legislature. The lawmakers of a 
State should be the wisest and best men in the State. There 
is good reason to believe that in some States bad men get 
laws passed for their own private benefit. They do this 
through bribery. They offer members of the Legislature 
some inducement to vote for a bill that is against the inter- 
ests or the comfort of the great mass of people, and in the 
interest of their own selfish schemes. The voter on election 
day should think of this and try to prevent it. He should 
not vote to send to the Legislature a man who he believes 
can be bribed. Just as the happiness of the people of a 
city depends, in a great measure, upon the kind of men 
they send to the City Council, so the happiness of the 
people of a State depends, in a large measure, upon the 
kind of men they send to represent them in the State Leg- 
islature. If we can get good laws through the Legisla- 
ture of our State, we have advanced a long way on the 
road to good government. 



THE STATE LEGISLATURE 137 

QUESTIONS FOR ORIGINAL WORK 

1. Why are there two branches of the Legislature? Why should 
a bill be passed in both houses before it becomes a law? Why should 
there be three readings of a bill? 

2. Has a Governor of your State the veto power? What is the 
"pocket veto"? When a Governor vetoes a bill, does he act as a 
legislative or as an executive officer of government? 

3. If the Legislature of your State is in session, find out what im- 
portant measures are before it. Are you prepared to speak intelli- 
gently about any of these measures? Have you in mind any law you 
would like to see passed? How would you go about getting it passed? 
What is the name of the senator who represents you in the Legisla- 
ture? 

4. With what two documents should a member of the Legislature 
be familiar? 

5. What difference do you observe in the powers of the Legisla- 
ture and those of the City Council? 

6. What is meant by "sumptuary laws"? 

7. What is meant by the "lobby"? 

8. In what way may men be bribed without actually giving them 
money? 

9. If a Legislature consists of a body of rascals, whose fault is it? 



XXV. THE GOVERNOR AND HIS COLLEAGUES 

"Strictly speaking, the Governor is not the head of the executive 
department, but a member of it. The executive department is par- 
celed out in several pieces, and his is one of the pieces." — John Fiske, 

The Governor. — As soon as the lawmakers have passed 
all the laws that seem desirable, they leave the capital and 
go to their homes. It is left to the officers of the execu- 
tive department to see that the laws are obeyed. At the 
head of this department stands the Governor, — ^the pilot 
of the ship of State. The Governor is elected by the votes 
of the people. His term of office in some States is for one 
year; in others, it is for two years; in others, it is for four 
years. His powers are great, but they are granted to him 
by the people, and if he abuses his power, he may be im- 
peached. What are his powers and duties? 

The first duty of a Governor is to see that the laws are 
faithfully executed. If he learns that the law is being vio- 
lated either by public officers or by private persons, he must 
take steps to have the laws obeyed. To secure obedience 
he may call to his assistance judges and sheriffs and even 
the soldiers of the State, for he is the commander in chief 
of the land and naval forces of the State. Sometimes 
when a mob is bent on destroying life and property, the 
Governor calls out the troops and sends them against the 
mob. When public business is to be conducted between 

138 



THE GOVERNOR AND HIS COLLEAGUES 139 

one State and another, the Governor acts in the name of 
the State. 

It is the Governor's duty to send to the Legislature at 
the opening of the session a message. This message informs 
the Legislature of the condition of affairs throughout the 
State, and recommends the passage of such laws as the 
Governor thinks ought to be passed. The Legislature, how- 
ever, is not bound to pass, or even to consider, the laws 
recommended in a message. 

In time of danger or pressing need, if the Legislature is 
not in session the Governor may call it in extra session, so 
that it may at once pass such laws as the moment requires. 

The Governor, in many States, has the powe^ to pardon 
criminals. He may forgive the offense entirely and restore 
the criminals to freedom, or he miay commute the punish- 
ment, that is, he may make it less severe. Sometimes, 
when a person is sentenced to be hanged, the Governor 
commutes the punishment to imprisonment for life. For 
a good reason he will give a reprieve, postponing the ex- 
ecution of the death sentence. In some States this matter 
of pardon, commutation, and reprieve is not left to the 
Governor, but is intrusted to a special body of officers, 
known as the Board of Pardons. 

Another power of the Governor is that of appointment. 
In all the States there are many officers who are not elected 
directly by the people, but receive their positions by ap- 
pointment. Many of these appointments are made by the 
Governor. In some States he has the appointment of the 
judges of the State courts— a great responsibility. When 



140 STATE GOVERNMENT 

an elective official dies or resigns before his term ends, 
the Governor fills the vacancy by appointing some one 
to serve until another election is held. When an officer is 
guilty of misconduct in office, the Governor in most States 
may remove him and put a better man in his place. 

Other Executive Officers. — ^The Governor cannot at- 
tend to all the public affairs of a State. He must have as- 
sistants, just as the Mayor of a city has heads of depart- 
ments to assist him. These assistants of the Governor are 
high executive officers of the State, and they are generally 
elected by the people. Below, you will find the names 
of most of them, with a short explanation of their du- 
ties: 

(1) The Lieutenant Governor. — A lieutenant is an officer 
who takes the place of a higher officer, when that officer 
is absent or cannot attend to his duties. Most of the 
States elect a Lieutenant Governor to serve when the Gov- 
ernor is out of the State or is unable to be at his post. The 
duties of the Lieutenant Governor are very few. We have 
seen that he has the right to act as the President of the 
State Senate ; but he has no vote in that body except when 
there is a tie, that is, when there is an equal number of 
votes for and against a measure. When there is a tie, the 
Lieutenant Governor decides the question by voting on 
one side or on the other. In such a case he is said to have 
the casting vote. 

(2) The Secretary of State, sometimes elected, sometimes 
appointed by the Governor, is the highest clerk of the 
executive department. He has charge of State papers, 



THE GOVERNOR AND HIS COLLEAGUES 141 

of the Journals of the Legislature, and of historical doc- 
uments, statuary, paintings, relics, etc., owned by the 
State. 

(3j The State Comptroller or Auditor. — ^A comptroller is 
a manager of accounts. The Comptroller of a State man- 
ages the financial business of the State government. He 
attends to business relating to the debt, the property, the 
claims, the revenue of the State. He superintends the col- 
lection of taxes due to the State, and examines the claims 
of those to whom the State owes money. When a debt of 
the State is to be paid, the Comptroller orders the State 
Treasurer to pay it. 

(4) The State Treasurer. — We shall leant hereafter 
that when a town or a county collects money by taxation, 
a certain portion of the money usually must be given 
over to the State government. This money is sent to the 
State Treasurer. He either keeps it in a large safe at the 
capitol or gives it to some reliable bank to keep. He may 
not pay out a dollar of it without an order from the Comp- 
troller. 

(5) The Attorney-General is the law officer of the State, 
corresponding to the prosecuting attorney of the county. 
When the State needs the services of a lawyer, he appears 
for it in the courts. 

(6) The Superintendent of Public Instruction is the high- 
est school officer of the State. He prepares a report and 
sends it to the Legislature. In this report he states the 
needs of the schools and suggests how they may be im- 
proved. He presides at the meeting of County Superin- 



142 STATE GOVERNMENT 

tendents and at teachers' institutes^ and furthers the 
cause of education in whatever way he can. 

The foregoing executive officers are found in almost every 
State. In addition to these there are in many States still 
other executive officers and boards whose duties are very 
important. Among these may be mentioned: 

(1) The State Insurance Commissioner. 

(2) The State Board of Railroad Commissioners. 

(3) The State Inspector of Factories. 

(4) The State Liquor License Commissioners. 

(5) The State Board of Charities. 

(6) The State Board of Health. 

(7) The State Tax Commissioner. 

(8) The State Board of Pardons. 

(9) The State Superintendent of Banks. 

(10) The State Board of Medical Examiners. 

(11) The State Commissioner of Agriculture. 

(12) The State Board of Public Works. 

It must not be supposed that every State has all these 
officers and boards, for each State has only such officers as 
it needs in the management of its own affairs. One officer 
will often perform the duties of two or more officers. 

Impeachment. — If it is charged that a high officer of 
the State is guilty of misconduct in office, — if, for example, 
the Governor is accused of having accepted a bribe for 
signing or for not signing a bill, or if a judge is accused of 
trying cases while he is drunk, — the House of Representa- 
tives inquires into the charges, and if it finds that there is 
truth in them, it impeaches the offender, that is, it accuses 



THE GOVERNOR AND HIS COLLEAGUES 143 

him of official misconduct. The trial of the officer thus 
impeached is conducted by the Senate. That body Ustens 
to the evidence against the impeached officer, and if it 
regards him guilty, it pronounces judgment against him. 
An officer who has been found guilty under impeachment, 
can no longer hold an office of honor, trust, or profit in 
the State. 

QUESTIONS FOR ORIGINAL WORK 

1. What is the name of the chief executive officer of your State? 

2. Examine the constitution of your State for answers to the follow- 
ing questions: 

(a) What are the qualifications of the Governor? 

(6) What is the length of his term of office? ^ 

(c) What is his salary? 

(d) Has he the power of veto? 

(e) Has he the pardoning power? 

(/) May he remove an inefficient officer? 
(g) What officers does he appoint? 

Qi) If there is no Lieutenant Governor, who will fill the vacancy if 
the Governor should die or resign? 

3. Ought the Lieutenant Governor to preside in the Senate at the 
trial of a Governor, whom the House has impeached? 

4. When the Senate tries an impeachment case, does it act as a 
legislative or as a judicial body? 

5. What are some of the qualifications of a good Governor? A good 
Comptroller? A good Attorney-General? A good State Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction? 

6. Have you read a Governor's message? What is a Governor's 
" proclamation " ? 

7. Does the constitution of your State provide for other executive 
officers not mentioned in the lesson? 

8. Make out a complete list of the executive officers and boards of 
your State. 



XXVI. JUDGES, JURIES, AND COURTS OF LAW 

"No man's property is safe, and no man's welfare is assured where 
justice is denied to the poor, or where crime goes unpunished; no State 
can prosper where human rights are not respected." — David A. Wells. 

The Judicial Department. — You have learned how a 
law is made, and you have learned the names and duties 
of those officers who compel obedience to the laws. But 
before an officer can punish a person for disobeying the 
law, it must first have been decided that the one accused 
is actually guilty. You will remember that the decision 
of this question is left neither to those who make the laws, 
nor to those who are to enforce them, but to a third body 
of men, the judicial officers or judges of the State. Every 
State has a complete judicial system by which citizens 
may defend their rights and secure justice. It is this judi- 
cial system that we are now to study. We will begin with 
the lowest part of the system and proceed to the highest. 

The Justice of the Peace. — Let us suppose that a house 

has been burned in your neighborhood, and that a man. 

named X is suspected of having burned it. Some citizen 

who is interested, perhaps the owner of the house, will file 

a complaint against X before a justice of the peace. This 

officer, though chosen for some one town or city or county, 

is an officer of the State, and he acts in the name of the 

State. He renders decisions only in small and unimportant 

cases. Thus, if a man is sued for a few dollars, or if he is ar- 

144 



JUDGES, JURIES, AND COURTS OF LAW 145 

rested for drunkenness, or fast driving, his case could be 
decided before a justice of the peace. 

When the complaint of house burning is filed against 
X, the justice of the peace gives a constable, or pohceman, 
a warrant for the arrest of the accused, who is brought into 
the justice's court. Since X is charged with having com- 
mitted a serious crime, — the crime of arson, — the justice 
cannot try his case. But he can do this: He can listen to 
witnesses for and against X, and if he believes that the 
accused is probably guilty, he may send him to jail to 
await trial in a higher court. But this trial may not come 
up in a higher court for several months, and if X is an in- 
nocent man, — and the law supposes he is innocent until 
he is proved guilty, — it would be a great hardship for him 
to have to lie in jail for so long. This he need not do if 
he can get bail. To give bail, he must get one or more of 
his friends to sign an agreem^ent to pay the State a certain 
sum of money if he should fail to appear in court for trial 
when he is wanted. This agreement is a bond, and those 
who sign it are bondsmen. If X runs away before trial, 
he is said to '^jump bail." Let us suppose he is able to 
give bail, and that he awaits his trial like a man. 

The Circuit Court. — ^The trial of X will take place be- 
fore a judge or judges of the Circuit Court — in some States 
called the District Court, in others the Superior Court, 
in others the Supreme Court, in still others the Court of 
Common Pleas. This court sits in the courthouse of the 
county seat two or three times in a year. The same judge 
or judges may serve in several counties, going from one 
F. Civil Govt.— 10 



146 STATE GOVERNMENT 

county to another. It is for this reason they are so often 
called circuit judges. They are generally elected by the 
people, although in some States they are appointed by the 
Governor. In all cases, like justices of the peace, they act 
in the name of the State. 

Into this Circuit Court X is brought for trial. The 
crime that he is accused of is supposed to have been com- 
mitted not against the person whose house was burned, but 
against society, against the whole body of people, against 
the State. It is the State, therefore, that brings him to 
trial. The prosecuting attorney (p. 88) brings the case 
before the grand jury,^ a body consisting of not less than 
twelve nor more than twenty-three citizens, whose busi- 
ness it is to find violators of the law and to present them 
to the court for trial. These grand jurymen summon the 
witnesses who will testify against X, but not those who 
will testify in his favor. If it is the opinion of at least 
twelve of the grand jury that X ought to be tried for the 
burning of the house, the prosecuting attorney will draw 
up an indictment, containing the charges against him, and 
the foreman of the grand jury will write across the back of 
the indictment the words, ^^A true bill." This means that 
X must stand a trial in court. 

The examination by the grand jury was secret ; but the 
trial in court is open to the public. When X is brought 
into court, the indictment is read to him, and he is asked 

^ In some States there is no grand jury. Where this is the case the 
prosecuting attorney determines whether a case shall be brought to 
trial. 



JUDGES, JURIES, AND COURTS OF LAW 



147 



whether he is '^guilty" or ^^not guilty." His reply is 
called a plea. If his plea is ^^ guilty/' the judge sentences 
him to be punished according to law. If his plea is ''not 
guilty," the judge appoints a time for his trial. 

The trial begins by the selection of twelve men to act 
as a jury to decide whether he is guilty or not. This is 




^■IS^ 



A Trial 



called the petit jury, or small jury, to distinguish it from 
the grand jury. The members of the petit jury, like those 
of the grand jury, are chosen from among the citizens of 
the neighborhood, — from farmers, mechanics, merchants. 
Some of them may be neighbors of X. Before they are 
allowed to serve, they must swear that they have not 
formed an opinion upon the guilt or innocence of the 
prisoner, and that they will decide the case according to 



148 BTATE GOVERNMENT 

the evidence that is presented to them. After they have 
taken this oath, the jurymen sit in the ^^jury box" and 
hsten to the testimony of witnesses. 

In a trial, there are always two parties, one called the 
plaintiff, who brings the complaint or suit into court, and 
another, called the defendant, or the one against whom the 
complaint is brought. In the case before us the State is 
the plaintiff, and X is the defendant. The prosecuting at- 
torney, in behalf of the plaintiff, presents the case against 
the defendant and examines witnesses for the State. An- 
other lawyer speaks in behalf of X and examines witnesses 
in his favor. After the evidence on both sides has been 
heard, and after the judge has given his charge to the jury, 
directing them on some points of their duty, the jury re- 
tire to a private room to talk the matter over and come 
to a decision. If they can all agree, they return to the 
courtroom with their verdict. If the verdict is '^guilty," 
the judge will pronounce sentence upon the prisoner in 
open court and give him over to the sheriff for punishment ; 
if the verdict is '^not guilty," X is set free, and he cannot 
be tried again for the same offense (p. 44). 

The Supreme Court. — If after X is sentenced, his law- 
yer can show that strict justice has not been secured, he 
may take the case to a higher court, usually called the 
Supreme Court, or Court of Appeals, — ^the highest court of 
the State. The judges of this court meet at the capital of 
the State and hear appeals in cases that have been tried in 
the lower courts. The Supreme Court will not try the case 
of X over again, but it will listen to his appeal, and if it is 



JUDGES, JURIES, AND COURTS OF LAW 149 

shown that the judges in the court below did not try the 
case according to law, it will order a new trial and thus give 
X another chance for his freedom; if it finds that the trial 
was properly conducted in the lower court, X will have to 
bear his punishment. 

Civil and Criminal Cases. — Cases that involve crime, 
like the case of X, are called criminal. Most of the cases, 
however, that are tried in courts do not relate to crime, 
but to the ownership of property. Such cases are called 
civil. The chief difference between a criminal and a civil 
case, is that in a criminal case the plaintiff is the State; 
while in a civil case, the plaintiff is a private person or a 
corporation. The history of a civil case in "ftie courts is 
quite like that of a criminal case. If the amount of prop- 
erty at stake is small, it may be tried before a justice of 
the peace. If the amount is large, the case is tried in 
the Circuit Court (or District Court), and if satisfaction is 
not obtained, then it may be taken to the Supreme Court. 



QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Examine the constitution of your State for answers to the follow- 
ing questions: 

(a) Name the different courts of the State. 

(6) Are judges of the courts elected or appointed? 

(c) What are the qualifications of a judge? 

(d) How long do the judges hold office? 

(e) What salaries are given to the different judges? 
(/) How may a judge be removed from his office? 
{g) Are justices of the peace elected or appointed? 

Qi) Are there in this State other courts than those mentioned in the 
lesson? 



150 STATE GOVERNMENT 

2. Can the people choose by their votes a better judge than the 
Governor can select? 

3. Why should the term of office of a judge be longer than that of 
other officers? 

4. In what court would you sue a man for a debt of two dollars? 
For a debt of ten thousand dollars? In what court would a man 
accused of murder be tried? A boy accused of disorderly conduct? 

5. Which are the most important, good lawmakers, good executive 
officers, or good judges? 

6. What are some of the unpleasant things a judge is called upon 
to do? 

7. Write a description of the kind of a man you think would make a 
good judge. 

8. What are the advantages of trial by jury? 



XXVII. THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION 

" Great were the hearts and strong the minds 
Of those who framed, in high debate, 
The immortal league of love, that binds 
Our fair broad Empire, State with State." — Bryant. 

Introduction.— We have now studied the leading facts 
connected with several of the governments by which we 
are controlled. We have studied the government of the 
family and learned the rights and duties of parents and 
children ; we have studied the government oi the school 
and learned the rights and duties of pupils and teachers; 
we have studied the government of the city, county, and 
town, and have learned what are the powers and duties 
of the officers of these governments; we have studied the 
government of the State and we have learned how State 
laws are made and enforced. We shall now take up the 
study of a government v/hich spreads its power over all 
the States. I mean our National Government, the gov- 
ernment of the United States, 

The Articles of Confederation.— In 1783 the thirteen 
States were held together by the Articles of Confederation, 
a form of government that had been adopted during the 
Revolutionary War. Whatever may have been the value 
of these Articles in times of danger from a foreign foe, in 
times of peace they were almost worthless. They gave 
Congress a right to make certain useful laws, but they 

151 



152 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

gave it no power to enforce those laws; they gave it the 
right to declare war, but they did not give it the right to 
compel men to serve in the army; they gave it the right 
to borrow money, but they did not give it the right to 
raise money by taxation in order to pay the debt. In other 
words, the government of the United States under 
Articles of Confederation was a legislature only: it lacked 
the executive and judicial powers. It was like a three- 
legged stool with two legs gone. Of course, such a govern- 
ment could not be respected. 

Yet the people of the States felt there ought to be union, 
and that there ought to be a general government that 
would have power enough to make itself respected. What 
prevented such a union? It was the pride and jealousy of 
the States. Each State was free to do just as it chose, 
and if a strong union was formed, some of the freedom 
would have to be surrendered. Things went from bad to 
worse under the Confederation. Congress was mobbed at 
one time by a crowd of drunken men; soldiers who had 
served in the war clamored for their pay, but there was no 
way to raise money for them. One State quarreled with 
another. Washington and Madison and Hamilton and 
other statesmen saw these evils and took steps to remedy 
them before it was too late. 

The Constitutional Convention of 1787. — It was one 
of the evils under the Confederation that the people of 
different States could not trade freely with each other. 
The New Jersey farmer could not carry his produce into 
New York without first paying a tax upon it. Each State 



THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION 153 

had its own customhouse, and collected taxes upon goods 
brought from foreign countries and turned the money into 
its own treasury. This made the burden of taxation un- 
equal in the different States. With the purpose of remedy- 
ing this state of things, and taking measures to make the 
laws of trade uniform, a convention was called to meet at 
Annapolis in 1786. But as only five of the thirteen States 
responded to the call the delegates thought it unwise to 
proceed further with the business. They did, however, 
make a report, recommending that another convention 
should meet in the following year. Congress issued the 
call for the convention, and all the States, excepting 
Rhode Island, sent delegates to it. ^ 

In May, 1787, these delegates from twelve States met in 
Philadelphia for the purpose of amending the Articles of 
Confederation in such a manner as to correct the evils 
which have been described. In this Convention were some 
of the ablest men our country has produced. There were 
Washington and Madison and Hamilton and Franklin. 
These men did not work for their own selfish interests, or 
even for the advantage of a particular State, but for the 
advantage of all the States. The sessions of the Conven- 
tion were secret, but we know most of the things that 
were said and done in it. It soon agreed that the govern- 
ment under the Confederation was weak and worthless, 
and that an entirely new form of government was nec- 
essary. It saw that, instead of a ^^ league of friendship," 
between the States, as the Confederation was called, there 
ought to be a real union of the people. How was this to be 



154 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 



accomplished? It could not be accomplished unless the 
States gave up some of their rights, and would they be 
willing to do this? Most of the members thought the 
States would. For four months the subject was debated, 
and at last a Constitution for the government of the Uni- 
ted States was agreed upon. 




Room Where the Constitutional Convention Met 

The Constitution proposed by the Convention was sent 
to the several States for their approval. In almost every 
State it met fierce opposition. The new government, it 
was claimed, would crush out the rights of the States, 
and destroy the freedom of individuals. But the Consti- 
tution had strong supporters, and one by one the States 
voted to accept it. It was provided that when nine States 
approved of it, it should go into effect. By July, 1788, it 



THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION 155 

had been approved by nine States, and it therefore be- 
came the supreme law of the States which adopted it. 
The government under the new Constitution began to 
transact business in April, 1789. 

Amendments to the Constitution,— The Constitution 
framed by the Convention of 1787 is the Constitution un- 
der which we live to-day. Fifteen important amendments, 
however, have been added to the Constitution since its 
adoption. In the early years of our history many people 
were fearful lest the new National Government would 
prove to be a giant that would crush the rights of States and 
of citizens. So the States hastened to add the first eleven 
amendments, which are intended to curb the power of the 
National Government. In 1804 the Twelfth Amendment 
was added for the purpose of preventing confusion in the 
election of the President and Vice President. The Thir- 
teenth Amendment abolished slavery. The Fourteenth 
Amendment made it impossible for the States or for the 
United States to deprive any person of life, liberty, or prop- 
erty without due process of law (p. 44). The Fifteenth 
Amendment declares that the right of suffrage shall not be 
denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

(Examine the Constitution for answers to the following questions.) 

1. Name ten leading men who sat in the Convention of 1787. 

2. Describe two ways by which the Constitution of the United 
States may be amended. 

3. Repeat the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. 



XXVIII. CONGRESS 

" The American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonder- 
ful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of 
man." — William E. Gladstone. 

The Two Houses of Congress. — ^The men of the Con- 
vention of 1787 came together for the purpose of simply 
revising the old Articles of Confederation, but they soon 
found that the old government was not worth patching 
up. So they bravely planned an entirely new govern- 
ment, one that was to have enough power and that was 
to have officers enough to do the work of a government. 
They provided for a government of three departments, 
the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. 

The Constitution provides first (Article I) for the leg- 
islative branch. It provides that laws of the National 
Government shall be made by a body called a Congress, 
and that the Congress shall have two branches, a Senate 
and a House of Representatives. This Congress every 
year, on the first Monday in December, meets in the mag- 
nificent Capitol at Washington; the Senate at the north 
end of the building, the House of Representatives at the 
south end. 

The House of Representatives. — It is the purpose of 
the Constitution that the will of the people shall be ex- 
pressed in the House of Representatives. Hence, members 
of this branch of Congress are elected by a direct popular 

156 



CONGRESS 



157 



vote, and each State is represented according to its popu- 
lation. 

During the first years of National Government a State 
was allowed one representative for every 30,000 inhabit- 
ants. If this number had remained unchanged, the 
House of Representatives would now consist of about 
3000 members, and would be a body much too large for 




House of Representatives in Session 

the transaction of business in a deliberate way. But it 
has not remained unchanged; as population has increased, 
the number of inhabitants for each representative has 
been made larger. At the present time each State is al- 
lowed to send one representative for every 194,182 in- 
habitants. This gives Delaware one member in the House, 
and New York thirty-seven members. The representa- 



158 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 



tives from all the States number 391. Each State is di- 
vided by its Legislature into a number of Congressional 
Districts, each district containing, as near as may be, 
194,182 inhabitants. Thus Iowa, with 2,231,853 inhabit- 
ants, is divided into eleven congressional districts, and 
is entitled to eleven members in the House of Represen- 
tatives. 

The House of Representatives, upon meeting, organizes 
in very much the same way that the lower house in a 
State Legislature is organized. A Speaker, a Clerk, a 
Sergeant-at-Arms, and Messengers are elected, and Com- 
mittees are appointed by the Speaker. 




Senate in Session 



The Senate. — ^The States are represented in Congress 
by senators. It was the purpose of those who framed the 
Constitution to preserve the power and dignity of the 



CONGRESS 159 

State as far as possible. For this reason one State is as 
well represented in the Senate as another; each State, 
whether great or small, being entitled to two senators. 
Nevada, which has a population of 45,000, has as much 
power in the Senate as has New York, with a population 
of 7,000,000. This, at first sight, may seem to you to be 
unjust, but the more you study the subject the more rea- 
son you will see for the law. Probably the only way to 
enable the smaller States to preserve their rights is to give 
them equal power with the larger States in the Senate. 
Senators are not elected by the people but by the Legisla- 
tures of the different States. The election is so arranged 
that when a new Congress meets only one-third^of the Sen- 
ate can consist of new members. As there are now forty- 
six States, the Senate consists of ninety-two members; and 
sixty-one or more of these are experienced lawmakers. 

How a Law is Passed in Congress. — ^A law is passed 
in Congress in almost the same way that one is passed in 
the Legislature of a State. A bill is introduced into one 
of the houses, is referred to its proper committee, is re- 
ported upon, is read three times upon three different days, 
is voted upon, and if it receives a majority of votes, is 
sent to the other house, where it has almost the same his- 
tory. If it passes in this house, also, it is sent to the 
President for his approval. If he approves the bill, he 
signs it and it becomes a law. If he does not approve it, 
he vetoes it; that is, he returns it without his signature 
and with his objections. If the bill is voted upon again, 
and is favored by a two-thirds vote in each house, not- 



160 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

withstanding the objections of the President, it becomes 
a law without his approval. 

The Power of Congress Limited. — What are the powers 
of our national lawmaking body? A glance at history will 
help you to understand the answer to this question. You 
remember that just after the Declaration of Independence 
each State had in itself nearly all the powers of government. 
Almost everything that a government can wisely do the 
government of a State could do. The States were proud 
of this great power. Like individuals they loved their 
pride and their will. Now, when the Union was formed, in 
1787-89, it was necessary to give up some of this power. 
But the States were careful to give up as little power as 
possible, and they were extremely careful to have it un- 
derstood just what powers they meant to give up, and to 
reserve for themselves all powers that they did not give 
up. Therefore, certain definite powers of the new govern- 
ment were plainly stated in the Constitution. These 
powers it might exercise, and no others. All powers not 
granted to the general government were reserved to the 
State. The answer to the question, " What can Congress 
do?" is this: It can do what the Constitution says it 
can do, and it can do no more. The answer to the ques- 
tion, '^What can the Legislature of a State do?" is this: 
It can do anything that is not contrary to the constitu- 
tion of the State, or to the Constitution of the United 
States. In other words. Congress is a lawmaking body 
with limited powers. What these powers are will be the 
subject of the next lesson. 



CONGRESS 161 



QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1, Examine the second and third sections of the first Article of the 
Constitution and fill the blanks properly: 

A member of the House of Representatives is elected to serve for 
years. No person can be elected in this branch of Congress un- 
less he is at least years of age and has been a citizen of the 



for at least years. He must also, when elected, be a resident of the 

in which he is elected. A senator of the United States is elected by 

the of a to serve for years. He must be at least 



years of age, and must at the time of his election be a resident of the 
in which he is elected. 

2. What are the names of the senators who represent your State in 
Congress? 

3. How many representatives does your State send to Congress? 
In what congressional district do you live? What is the name of your 
representative? Does your State send to Congress men of distinction? 

4. Should senators be elected by the direct vote of t^ people? 



F. Civil Govt,— 11 



XXIX. CONGRESS (Continued) 

What Congress May Do. — Most of the powers of Con- 
gress are stated in the eighth section of the first article 
of the Constitution. That section gives Congress the 
power: 

(1) "To lay and collect taxes/' for the support of the Na- 
tional Government. How great is the sum necessary to 
support the National Government and how Congress raises 
this sum will be learned hereafter (p. 219). 

(2) "To borrow money on the credit of the United States J' 
— ^When a government borrows money it gives the lender 
a note of promise stating the amount loaned, the time 
of payment, and the rate of interest to be paid. The 
notes thus issued by a government are called bonds. The 
United States has borrowed vast sums by issuing bonds. 
At one time (in 1866) its debt was nearly $3,000,000,000, 
but this amount has been greatly reduced. 

(3) "To regidate commerce with foreign nations and 
among the several States. '^ — You remember it was a desire 
to regulate commerce that led to the calling of the Con- 
vention of 1787. Under this power Congress regulates 
the importation of foreign goods, makes rules for the reg- 
ulation of foreign shipping, regulates immigration, pro- 
vides life-saving stations along the coast, improves har- 
bors, opens rivers to navigation, directs the work of the 

162 



CONGRESS 163 

great Interstate Commerce Commission (of which we shall 
learn on p. 198), and does many other useful things. 

(4) ^^To establish an uniform rule of naturalization^^ 
(p. 35). 

(5) '^ To establish laws on the subject of bankruptcies.^^ 

(6) '^ To coin money.'' 

(7) ''To fix the standard of weights and measures.'' — ^A 
yardstick should be just as long, and a pound weight just 
as heavy in Pennsylvania, as the one or the other is in 
California, and Congress has the right to require that this 
shall be the case. The National Government presents a 
full set of weights and measures to the government of each 
State, and the State adopts these as correct, ftius through- 
out all the States merchants use standard weights and 
measures. 

(8) ''To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the 
securities and current coin of the United States." 

(9) "To establish post-offices and post-roads." 

(10) "To promote the progress of science and useful arts 
by securing for limdted times to authors and inventors the 
exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." 
— Authors are encouraged to write good books by giving 
them a copyright upon their works. The person who has 
a copyright upon a book is the only one who can print and 
sell it. A copyright lasts for twenty-eight years. It is 
secured by entering the title and sending two copies of 
the printed book, on or before the day of publication, 
to the Library of Congress in Washington. Congress 
encourages useful inventions by granting patents to in- 



164 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

ventors. A patent upon a machine gives the one who 
holds the patent the exclusive right to make and sell or 
use the machine. Rights under a patent last for seventeen 
years. The inventor sends a drawing and a model of his 
invention to the Commissioner of Patents^ at Washing- 
ton, and if it is found that he has invented something 
really neio a patent will be granted. 

(11) "To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme 
Court.'' 

(12) "To define and punish piracies and felonies com- 
mitted on the high seas, and offenses against the law of na- 
tions.'' — Piracy is robbery upon the sea. The National 
Government punishes pirates because their crime is com- 
mitted outside of the boundary of a State. When a citizen 
commits an offense against a foreign nation the injured 
nation regards the offender as a citizen of the United 
States, and not a citizen of a State. It is the National 
Government, therefore, that must punish piracies and 
offenses against the law of nations. 

(13) "To declare ivar, grant letters of marque and re- 
prisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and 
water." — As the evils of war would fall on many States, 
it is not right that a single State should be allowed to de- 
clare war. War, therefore, can be declared only by Con- 
gress, and conducted by the National Government. Some- 
times Congress has granted to private persons the right to 
go and seize certain property belonging to a foreign country. 
Such a commission, called a letter of marque and reprisal, 
cannot be granted by a State, When in times of war 



CONGRESS 165 

valuable property is captured, the prize must be divided 
among the captors according to the directions of the Na- 
tional Government. 

(14) ^^To raise and support armies. " 

(15) "To provide and maintain a navy." 

(16) "To make rules for the regulation of the land and 
naval forces J ^ 

(17) "To provide for calling forth the militia to execute 
the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel in- 
vasions J'' — The militia of a State consists of all its able- 
bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and 
forty-five. The law usually excuses the civil officers of 
government, clergymen, teachers, physicians, and firemen 
from military service. With these exceptions^every strong 
man in the country is a member of the militia, and may 
be called upon to serve in the army. 

(18) "To exercise exclusive legislation^^ over the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 

(19) "To make all laws which shall he necessary and 
proper for carrying into execution the . . . powers vested 
by this Constitution.^' 

Besides the povvers mentioned in the eighth section of 
the first article, the Constitution elsewhere gives Congress 
power: 

(20) "To provide for the case of removal, death, resigna- 
tion, or inability, both of the President and Vice President.'' — 
Under this power. Congress has passed a law providing 
that if both President and Vice President die, the Secre- 
tary of State shall act as President; if the Secretary of 



166 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

State dies, the Secretary of the Treasury shall act as Presi- 
dent; and so on down in the Cabinet, the Secretary of War 
coming third, the Attorney-General fourth, the Postmaster- 
General fifth, the Secretary of the Navy sixth, the Secre- 
tary of the Interior seventh. 

(21) To admit new States into the Union. 

(22) ^'To make all needful rules and regulations respect- 
ing the territory belonging to the United States.^' 

What Congress May Not Do. — In order to guard the 
interests of the States, the framers of the Constitution 
were careful to mention certain things that the National 
Government may not do. What these things are may be 
found in the ninth section of the first article of the Con- 
stitution. 

(1) Slavery. — ^The first prohibition refers to the impor- 
tation of slaves, but as slavery has been abolished we may 
pass this subject by. (See Article XIII of the Amend- 
ments.) 

(2) The writ of habeas corpus (p. 38) shall not be sus- 
pended, except in cases of rebellion or invasion. 

(3) No bill of attainder shall be passed. This means 
that Congress may not condemn a person to death, or to 
outlawry and banishment, without opportunity for de- 
fending himself in a court of law. 

(4) No ex post facto law shall be passed. An ex post facto 
law establishes or increases the penalty of an act after it 
has been committed. For example, if Congress should 
pass a law establishing the penalty of death upon a man 
found guilty of counterfeiting a year ago, when the penalty 



CONGRESS 167 

a year ago was fine and imprisonment, such a law would be 
ex post facto. 

(5) "No capitation or other direct tax shall he laid unless 
in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore di- 
rected to he taken. ^^ — ^This means that if Congress should 
pass a capitation tax, or poll tax, it must be the same 
in all States. If a direct tax on property should be 
laid by Congress, it would have to be apportioned among 
the States in proportion to their populations. Thus, if 
the United States Government should raise $35,000,000 
by a direct tax, the property holders of Georgia would pay 
about $1,000,000 of the sum, for the population of this 
State is about one thirty-fifth of the entire population of 
the Union. 

(6) "No tax or duty shall he laid on articles exported from 
any State. No preference shall he given hy any regulation of 
commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of 
another. '' 

(7) "No title of nobility shall he granted hy the United 
States.'' — Such titles as Prince, Duke, Earl, etc., are not 
in keeping with democratic government, and very properly 
they cannot be conferred by Congress. 

AN EXERCISE 

Give reasons why each of the powers which have been granted to 
Congress ought to be exercised by the National Government rather 
than by the State. 



XXX. THE PRESIDENT; HIS ELECTION 

"Sir, I would rather be right than be President." — Henry Clay. 

Introduction. — ^The Congress^ making use of such 
powers as the Constitution gives it^ — ^the powers described 
in the last lesson — passes the laws that seem to be nec- 
essary, and then adjourns; the nearly 500 members of the 
great lawmaking body leave Washington and return to 
their homes. The duty of enforcing and executing the 
laws of Congress rests almost entirely with the executive 
department, at the head of which is the President of the 
United States. 

One of the first things we want to know about the Pres- 
ident of the United States is, how is the great official 
chosen? How do 100,000,000 people select one of their 
number to act as their chief magistrate? The Constitu- 
tion provides in a general way ^ for the election of the 
President, but since that election is conducted by politi- 
cal parties we can best understand the election of the Pres- 
ident by observing the workings of a political party dur- 
ing a year in which a President is to be elected. 

The Nomination of a Presidential Candidate. — Before 
a man can hope to be President, he must be named as the 
candidate of a great party. Among the millions of voters 
in a great political party, there are many public men who 

^ See the first section of Article II and also the Twelfth Amendment. 

168 



THE PRESIDENT; HIS ELECTION 169 

are eager to be its candidate for President. The first ques- 
tion to be answered, then, is: How is the presidential candi- 
date of a poHtical party elected? How, for illustration, 
does the Democratic party select its candidate? 

The first step is taken several months before the election 
in November. In April or in May, the party holds its 
(1) Primary, or first election.^ At this election the Demo- 
cratic voters in the different townships, villages, and cities 
of a county choose delegates to represent them in a county 
Democratic convention. These delegates may go instructed 
to act in the interest of a certain man as the party 
candidate for President, or they may go free to act as 
their judgment directs. 

In a few days after the primary election tlje delegates 
from all the townships, villages, and cities of the county 
assemble (usually at the county seat) as the (2) Demo- 
cratic County Convention. This body, consisting some- 
times of only two or three dozen men, sometimes of a 
much larger number, elects delegates to go to a State 
Convention.^ If the majority of the delegates in the 
county conventions were in favor of a certain man for 
President, it is likely that the delegates of the State Con- 
vention will be in favor of the same man. 

A few weeks after the holding of the county convention, 
delegates from all the counties of the State assemble at 
some convenient place, as the (3) Democratic State Con- 
vention. This body, consisting sometimes of several hun- 
dred men, passes resolutions expressing the political views 
^ Sometimes called a Caucus. 



170 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 



of the party in the State, names its choice for presidential 
candidate — if it happens to have a choice — and elects 
delegates to the Democratic National Convention. In 
most of the States, however, the State Convention elects 
only four delegates (called delegates at large) to the Na- 
tional Convention, the other delegates being elected at 
Congressional District Conventions. The number of dele- 
gates sent to represent a State in the Democratic National 
Convention, is twice the number of the representatives of 




A Convention 

the State in the National Congress. For example, Cali- 
fornia, having seven members in the House of Representa- 
tives, and two members in the Senate, or nine in all, is 
entitled to eighteen delegates in the Democratic National 
Convention. 

By July or August all the State conventions have been 
held, and delegates have been elected to the great (4) Demo- 
cratic National Convention. This body, consisting of nearly 



THE PRESIDENT; HIS ELECTION 171 

1000 men, representing all parts of the country, meets in 
some convenient city. After several days of discussion, 
and after adopting a "platform expressing the views of the 
party upon pubUc questions, it elects the Democratic can- 
didates for President and for Vice President. 

In almost the same way, beginning with the primary 
election, and advancing to the County, State, and National 
conventions, the Republican Party selects its presidential 
candidates. The other political parties, the People's Party, 
the Socialist Party, and the Prohibition Party, select their 
candidates in a somewhat different manner but in most 
things all the parties follow the same plan. 

The Election of the President. — ^After all the political 
parties have named their respective candidate, the cam- 
paign begins. Political meetings are held, at which ora- 
tors set forth the claims of their candidates and defend the 
platform of their party; in the cities processions march 
through the streets with great display of banners, torches, 
and fireworks, while bands of music play spirited airs; 
everything that can be done to influence voters is done. 
The campaign continues until election day, the first Tues- 
day after the first Monday in November. On this day 
every fourth year about 15,000,000 citizens go to the 
polls to express their choice for President. But they do 
not vote for a President directly; they vote for a set of men 
called Electors, whose duty is to vote for a President and 
Vice President. Each State is entitled to a number of elec- 
tors equal to the number of its senators and representa- 
tives in Congress. Delaware, having one representative 



172 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

and two senators, is entitled to three electors; New York, 
having thirty-seven representatives and two senators, is 
entitled to thirty-nine electors. There are in all the States 
483 presidential electors. The names of the State electors 
of each party are printed on the ballot under the party 
name, and those who receive the 'highest number of votes 
are elected and are morally bound to vote for the candidate 
of the party that elected them. 

The successful electors of each State meet on the sec- 
ond Monday in January following the election, and vote 
for President and Vice President. The result of this vote 
is sent in a sealed envelope to the President of the Senate 
at Washington. On the second Wednesday of the follow- 
ing February, the President of the Senate, in the presence 
of both Houses of Congress, opens the envelopes contain- 
ing the electoral vote of the different States, and the votes 
are counted. The person who has a majority (242 or more) 
of the votes cast for President, is declared to be elected 
President of the United States, and the person who has a 
majority of the votes cast for Vice President is declared to 
be elected Vice President of the United States. (See Con- 
stitution, Article XII of Amendments.) 

Cases have happened in our history when no candidate 
had a majority of all the electoral votes. When this is 
the case the House of Representatives chooses a Presi- 
dent and the Senate a Vice President. When electing a 
President, the House must choose from the three highest 
on the list of the persons voted for by the electors, and it 
must vote by States, the majority of representatives from 



THE PRESIDENT; HIS ELECTION 



173 



each State casting one vote for their State, and the repre- 
sentatives of two-thirds of the States must take part in the 
election. The successful candidate must receive a major- 
ity of the votes of all the States. When the Senate is 
obliged to elect a Vice President, it must choose from the 



^t'^ .f ^. 




The White House 

two highest on the list of the persons voted for by the elec- 
tors. 

Inauguration. — On the fourth of March, the newly 
elected President and Vice President begin their duties. 
In the presence of a vast throng of citizens the Chief Jus- 
tice of the United States administers to the President- 
elect the following oath: ^'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 
that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the 
United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, 



174 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." 
The President then dehvers his inaugural address, from 
the eastern steps of the Capitol, outlining his policy and 
stating his ideas upon public questions. After this inaugu- 
ration he is driven to the executive mansion, generally 
known as the ^' White House," where he resides during his 
term of office, and where you may some day see him and 
shake hands with him. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Examine Article II of the Constitution, and fill the blanks 
properly: 

Both President and Vice President hold their position for years. 

No person may be President who was not born in the , and who is 

not years of age at the time of his , and who has not been a 

resident within the for years. If a President should be re- 
moved from his office or should or or be to discharge 

the powers and duties of his , the position of shall be filled by 

the . 

2. Ought the President to be elected directly by the people? 

3. How many Presidents haA^e been elected a second time? What 
are the objections to electing a President for a third term? 

4. How many votes were cast for presidential electors at the last 
election? 

5. Is it possible for a man to be elected President without receiving 
a majority of the votes of the people? 

6. What are the qualifications for the office of Vice President? 



XXXI. THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 

" As the citizen may not elect what laws he will obey, neither may 
the Executive elect which he will enforce." — Benjamin Harrison. 

The Powers and Duties of the President. — ^The Presi- 
dent does for the United States what a Governor does for 
one of the States — he takes care that the laws are faith- 
fully executed. His powers and duties are stated in the 
second and third sections of Article II of the Constitution. 

He is commander in chief of all the troops in the serv- 
ice of the United States, although in times of war he may 
not appear personally upon the field of battle. 

He may pardon criminals convicted for offenses com- 
mitted against the United States. 

He may make a treaty with a foreign country, pro- 
vided two-thirds of the members of the Senate vote for 
it. A treaty is an agreement between two nations to do 
or to refrain from doing certain things. It may be to make 
war upon a third nation, or to maintain peace, or to regu- 
late commerce or the carrying of mails, or for any other pur- 
pose. It is through treaties that the different nations of 
the world attempt to secure the good will of one another, 
and the responsibility of making treaties rests with the 
President and the Senate. 

At the beginning of a session of Congress the President 
sends to that body a message, in which he calls attention 

175 



176 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

to the needs of the country and suggests such legislation 
as seems to him necessary. Congress is not obhged to 
follow the suggestions of the President's message any more 
than the Legislature of a State is obliged to follow the 
suggestions contained in a message from the Governor. 

When Congress is not in session and it seems necessary 
that certain laws should be passed as quickly as possible, 
the President may call an extra session, just as the Gov- 
ernor of a State may call an extra session of the Legislature. 

The Great Executive Departments. — Upon the shoul- 
ders of the President rests the responsibility of the manage- 
ment of the entire business of the National Government. 
He is responsible for the management of foreign affairs, 
which includes the making of treaties, the appointing 
of ministers and consuls to serve in foreign countries 
and instructing them in their duties, the reception of 
foreign ministers in Washington, the giving of passports 
to those who wish to travel abroad, the protection of 
American citizens in other lands, and all other bus- 
iness that arises between our government and other gov- 
ernments. He is responsible for the management of the 
army with its officers and troops and forts and equipment 
and military schools; for the management of the navy 
with its fleets and forts and training schools; for the man- 
agement of much business conducted by United States 
attorneys in the national courts; for the collection of taxes, 
the expenditure of money appropriated by Congress, and 
the management of the public debt; for the management 
of the vast business of the post office with its post office 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 177 

buildings and postmasters, letter carriers; and clerks; for 
the management of the Indians, the sale of public lands, 
the payment of pensions, the granting of patents; for 
much work done by the government in aid of scientific 
farming; for the taking of the census, the regulation of 
commerce, the work of government fish hatcheries, and 
many other things. 

Of course, the President cannot superintend all this 
business in person. Like the executive of any other large 
government, like the Governor of a State or the Mayor of a 
city, he must have a body of able assistants. This busi- 
ness of the National Government is divided into nine de- 
partments, and at the head of each department the Presi- 
dent places a man who he thinks is competent *to manage 
its affairs. The names of the departments, with the titles 
of the head officers, are: 

(1) The Department of State, under the management of 
the Secretary of State, who is at the head of foreign af- 
fairs. 

(2) The Department of War, under the management of 
the Secretary of War. 

(3) The Department of the Navy, under the management 
of the Secretary of the Navy. 

(4) The Department of Justice, under the management 
of the Attorney-General. 

(5) The Department of the Treasury, under the manage- 
ment of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

(6) The Post Office Department, under the management 
of the Postmaster-General. 

F. Civil Govt.— 12 



178 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 



(7) The Department of the Interior, under the manage- 
ment of the Secretary of the Interior. 

(8) The Department of Agriculture, under the manage- 
ment of the Secretary of Agriculture. 

(9) The Department of Commerce and Labor, under the 
management of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 

Cabinet Meetings. — ^The' officers who serve as the heads 
of the great departments meet at the White House once or 
twice a week to consult with the President and to advise 




A Cabinet Meeting 

with him in respect to pubhc affairs. This coming to- 
gether of the heads of the departments is known as a Cabi- 
net Meeting. Cabinet meetings are not provided for in 
the Constitution. They are held simply for the conven- 
ience of the President, who desires, of course, to consult 
with his secretaries from time to time and to get advice 
from them. No record is kept of the cabinet meetings, 
and the public does not know what takes place at them. 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 179 

The cabinet may take a vote upon a question that is be- 
fore it, but the President is not bound to act according to 
the result of the vote. The President does not have to act 
according to the wishes of the cabinet, and he sometimes 
acts contrary to its wishes. The business of the cabinet is 
to discuss and advise; the business of the President is to 
decide and act. 

The National Civil Service ; the Civil Service Commis- 
sion. — ^The work of the National Government requires the 
services of about 325,000 persons, not counting the soldiers 
in the army or the sailors in the navy. About 30,000 of 
these officers and employees reside in the city of Washing- 
ton. The others are scattered over the country, serving prin- 
cipally as postmasters, letter-carriers, clerks, customhouse 
employees, inspectors. We are apt to think' of Washington 
as the place where nearly all the business of the National 
Government is transacted, but it should be remembered 
that for every person whom the National Government em- 
ploys in Washington it employs about ten elsewhere. 

How do these 325,000 servants of the National Govern- 
ment receive their positions? They receive them in two 
ways: they are either appointed directly by the President 
or they are appointed directly by the heads of the depart- 
ments. Those appointed by the President — more than 
8000 in number — must be confirmed by the Senate. The 
presidential appointees are the leading men of the gov- 
ernment, the heads of the departments and their chief 
assistants, the heads of bureaus and of divisions, the post- 
masters of the larger places, the chief customhouse offi- 



180 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

cials and collectors of internal revenue. All the vast army 
of officers and employees not appointed directly by the 
President are appointed by the heads of the departments. 

In order to help in the work of securing proper persons 
for the departments a Civil Service Commission has 
been established. It is the duty of this body to ex- 
amine those who wish employment under the government 
and to report on the fitness of the apphcants. The names 
of the persons who pass the examinations held by the Com- 
mission are sent to the heads of the departments, and the 
persons who get the highest marks are the first to be ap- 
pointed. Those who pass these civil service examinations 
and receive appointments are allowed to hold their places 
so long as they behave themselves and do their work well. 
Any person, however, in the executive civil service of the 
National Government, whether he be high or low, may be 
removed from his position at any time by the President, 
and may be removed for any reason or for no reason. 

Salaries. — ^The salaries of the principal officers of the 
National Government are as follows: 

President $50,000 

Vice President 12,000 

Members of the Cabinet 12,000 

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 13,000 

Associate Justices of the Supreme Court ...... 12,500 

Judges of Circuit Courts 7,000 

Judges of District Courts 6,000 

Representatives 7,500 

Senators 7,500 

Foreign Ministers and Ambassadors .... 10,000 to 17,500 
Heads of Bureaus and Divisions ....,, 3,000 to 6,000 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET ISl 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Name the members of our President's cabinet. 

2. What is meant by the words "To the victors belong the spoils"? 

3. How would you proceed if you wished to secure a position as a 
clerk in a post office? (Write to the United States Civil Service Com- 
mission, Washington, D. C, for a booklet giving information about 
admission to the national civil service.) 

4. Ought employees of the civil service to receive pensions in their 
old age? 

5. Name all the officers and employees of the national civil service 
whom you personally know. 



XXXII. THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPART- 
MENTS 

"Cultivate peace and harmony with all." — Washington. 

Introduction. — We may now begin to study the work- 
ings of the great executive departments of our National 
Government. The business of these departments extends 
over the whole of the United States. Indeed the business 
of some of them extends over the entire world. The cen- 
tral offices, however, of all the departments are located 
at our national capital, and it is in these great govern- 
ment workshops, the department buildings at Washing- 
ton, that we can best study the subject that is now be- 
fore us. 

The Department of State. — Of all the large and mag- 
nificent office buildings in Washington the largest and 
most magnificent is the State, War, and Navy Building 
located about a stone's throw west of the White House. 
This building might well be called the Peace and War 
Building, for beneath its roof are done both the things 
that keep us on terms of peace and friendship with foreign 
nations and the things that enable us to wage war on land 
and on sea. In this huge structure are the offices of the 
Department of State, the Department of War, and the 
Department of the Navy. 

The Department of State is the department of foreign 

182 



THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 183 

affairs. The United States must transact a great deal of 
business with the other countries of the world, and the 
management of this business is in the hands of the Secre- 
tary of State. Every important nation sends to Washing- 
ton an ambassador or minister whose duty is to represent 
his home country and to defend its interests in the United 
States. The Secretary of State assists the President in 
receiving these ambassadors and ministers upon their 
arrival in Washington, and does what he can to make their 




State, War, and Navy Building 

stay in the city pleasant and agreeable. A foreign minis- 
ter is a very important personage and he must be treated 
with great honor and distinction. The land on which he 
lives is regarded as a little patch of sacred territory upon 
which no one must enter against the wishes of the minis- 
ter. The person of a foreign minister is also regarded as 



184 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

sacred, and so are the persons of the members of his family 
and of his secretaries and servants. A secretary of a 
foreign ambassador was arrested in a New England town 
for running an automobile too fast, and was fined. The 
State Department took the matter up and caused the 
money to be given back, and the judge who imposed the 
fine v>^as reprimanded. 

Besides attending to the business that is brought up by 
the foreign ambassadors and ministers residing in Wash- 
ington, the State Department has charge of the work car- 
ried on by our own ambassadors and ministers in other 
countries. In almost every country of the world the Uni- 
ted States has either an ambassador or a minister. The 
ambassador is the higher officer in rank and is supposed 
to be the personal representative of the President himself. 
An ambassador and a minister have practically the same 
duty, and that is to uphold and defend the interests of 
the United States and its citizens in the countries to 
which they are sent. 

The State Department also has charge of the consular 
service of the United States. A consul is a business agent 
sent by the government to a foreign seaport or an inland 
city to look after the commercial interests of the home 
country. The consul also attends to many affairs of a 
private nature. He certifies to marriages, births, and 
deaths among his countrymen in his consular district; he 
looks after the property of deceased persons when there is 
nobody else at hand to do this; sometimes he issues pass- 
ports. Very often in the hour of need the American citi- 



THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 185 

zen in a foreign land finds in the American consul a real 
friend. 

The Department of War has charge of the land forces 
of the United States. It has control of the regular or stand- 
ing army, the army that is always ready for fighting. This 
army when compared with the regular armies of other 
countries is very small, consisting of less than 100,000 men. 
In times of peace this number is large enough, but in times 
of war it is of course too small. When necessary, however, 
the United States can put a vast army in the field. The 
militia of all the States (p. 165)— over 12,000,000 able- 
bodied men — is at the service of the National Government. 
Moreover, the President may call for volunteer soldiers and 
at such a call several hundred thousand good fighting men 
would be sure to step forward. 

The President is the commander in chief of the army, 
but the actual management of military affairs falls upon 
the Secretary of War. This officer is assisted in his duties 
by the General Staff and by the heads of the several bu- 
reaus of the War Department. The General Staff is a 
body of trained officers whose duty is to prepare plans for 
the conduct of military operations. Through the Chief 
of Staff the Secretary of War exercises a direct control 
over the troops. One great bureau of the department is 
that of the Quartermaster-General, who attends to the 
clothing of the troops and to their transportation. An- 
other important bureau is that of the Commissary-General, 
who supphes the army with food. The office of the Sur- 
geon-General cares for the sick and wounded and has charge 



186 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

of the army hospitals. The Judge- Advocate-General is the 
head of the bureau of mihtary justice. Officers and sol- 
diers frequently get into trouble and are accused of wrong- 
doing and when this happens they are not tried by a jury 
as other citizens are, but by a military court known as a 
court-martial. The Judge-Advocate-General has a general 
supervision over courts-martial. The Chief of Ordnance 
has charge of the bureau that purchases or manufactures the 
guns, swords, cannon, and ammunition used by the army. 

The War Department has charge of the fortifications by 
which the great cities along the sea coast are defended. It 
also has control of the great Military Academy at West 
Point where young men receive thorough training in the 
arts of war. The War Department has also established 
at Washington an Army War College for advanced students. 

The Department of the Navy has charge of the forces 
that defend us on the seas. The President is commander 
in chief of the navy as he is commander in chief of the 
army, but the Secretary of the Navy is the real manager 
of naval affairs. The business of the Navy Department 
is distributed to several bureaus, all of which work toward 
the same end: the placing on the seas of well-built, well- 
equipped, and fully-manned fighting ships. The Bureau 
of Construction and Repair attends to the designing and 
building of the ships of the navy. The Bureau of Yards 
and Docks has charge of the yards where ships for the 
navy are built. The Bureau of Navigation takes care that 
the ships of the navy are supplied with properly trained 
officers and sailors. The Naval Academy at Annapolis — ■ 



THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 187 

the best equipped school of its kind in the world — is 
under the direction of this bureau. The Bureau of Equip- 
ment has charge of the furnishings of the ships, the electric 
motors, the rigging, the sail, the anchors, compasses, 
charts, books. The Bureau of Ordnance provides the ships 
with the instruments of warfare. 

For a long time the United States did not care to have 
a powerful navy, but about 1885 we began to improve 
our navy, adding to the number of fighting vessels and 
providing for the training of a large number of naval offi- 
cers and seamen. This policy of increasing our naval 
forces has been followed so faithfully that we now have 
one of the most powerful navies in the world. Indeed, 
there is only one country in the world that can^boast of a 
stronger navy than ours. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCSSES 

1. Who first filled the office of Secretary of State? Of Secretary of 
War? Of Secretary of the Navy? 

2. Name four great generals of American history. Name three 
great naval heroes of American history. 

3. What country has the strongest navy? What reason can you 
give in favor of supporting a strong navy? What reasons can you 
give against supporting a strong navy? 

4. What does it cost to support the army and navy of the United 
States? 

5. Name the countries of the world that have large standing armies. 
Are those countries in less danger than are those that have small 
standing armies? 

6. If you see any good things connected with warfare name those 
things. Name the evils connected with warfare. 



XXXIII. THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPART- 
MENTS (Continued) 

The Department of Justice. — Just across the street 
from the State, War, and Navy Building is the central 
office of the Department of Justice, the law department 
of the National Government. The chief lawyer of this de- 
partment is the Attorney-General of the United States, 
who renders the same kind of service for the National 
Government that the Attorney-General of the State (p. 141) 
renders for the State government and that the prosecuting 
attorney (p. 88) renders for the county. When there are 
offenses against the laws of the United States, such as 
the counterfeiting of money or the robbing of mails, it is 
the duty of the Department of Justice to prosecute the 
offenders in the national courts. When the National Gov- 
ernment needs a lawyer to defend it in the courts, the 
Attorney-General or one of his assistants acts as that 
lawyer. When the President, or a member of the cabinet, 
needs the advice of a lawyer he calls upon the Attorney- 
General to give that advice. The Department of Justice 
also superintends the district attorneys, clerks, and mar- 
shals of the national courts. In the performance of his 
duties the Attorney-General is assisted by a solicitor- 
general and by many assistant attorneys. 

The Department of the Treasury. — About a stone's 
throw east of the White House is the Treasury Building, 

188 



THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 



189 



the great central workshop of the Treasury Department. 
Visitors to Washington are always eager to go through 
the Treasury Building, for in it they can see the vaults in 
which are deposited great sums of gold and silver coin, 
and can see old and worn out money destroyed and new, 
freshly printed money stamped, counted, and prepared for 
shipment to all parts of the country. 
The operations of the Treasury Department are so vast 




Treasury Building 

that to give a full account of them would require a large 
volume. At the head of this department is the Secretary 
of the Treasury, who is assisted in his labors by three as- 
sistant secretaries and by the heads of numerous bureaus 
and divisions. Among the many services of the depart- 
ment the following deserve special notice: 



190 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

(1) The Collection of the National Taxes. — It is the task 
of the Treasury Department to collect the great sum of 
money that is required to support the National Govern- 
ment. The national taxes are the customs duties on goods 
brought from foreign countries, and excises (taxes) on 
certain articles of home manufacture. Duties are collected 
principally on sugar, tobacco, wool, woolen goods, cotton 
goods, silk goods, iron and steel goods. Both duties and 
excises (internal taxes) are collected on liquors, tobacco, 
cigars, cigarettes, oleomargarine, and playing cards. About 
half the revenue of the National Government comes from 
customs duties and about half from excises. 

For the collection of the customs tax the Treasury De- 
partment places officials, known as collectors of customs, 
at all points where foreign goods are brought into the 
country. There are altogether about 130 such places, 
known as 'ports of entry. The leading ports of entry — so 
far as the amount of customs collected is concerned— are 
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Balti- 
more, New Orleans, Chicago, and Detroit. By far the 
most important port is New York, where more than half 
of all the customs are collected. 

For the collection of the excises the Department has 
officers known as collectors of internal revenue. These 
officers and their assistants visit the distilleries and brew- 
eries and cigar and tobacco manufactories and collect taxes 
on the articles before they are sold. 

(2) The Safe Keeping of the National Revenue. — ^The 
money collected as customs and excises is placed in the 



THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 191 

keeping of the Treasurer of the United States, an officer 
of the Treasury Department. A large amount of the gov- 
ernment's money is always found in the vaults of the 
Treasury Building at Washington, yet in nine other cities 
(New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, 
St. Louis, New Orleans, and San Francisco) there are sub- 
treasuries in which large sums of pubHc money are stored. 
In the subtreasury of New York there is more money 
actually handled than is handled at all the other sub- 
treasuries combined. 

(3) The Bookkeeping Service of the National Govern- 
ment. — ^The great task of keeping the accounts of the Na- 
tional Government is performed by officers of the Treasury 
Department. Chief among these are the Register of the 
Treasury, Auditors of the Treasury, and the Comptroller 
of the Treasury. The Register of the Treasury signs all 
United States bonds, and prepares lists of persons who 
are the holders of registered bonds and who are en- 
titled to receive interest on bonds. The Auditors of the 
Treasury, six in number, examine and settle all the claims 
and accounts of the various departments. The Comptrol- 
ler prescribes the manner in which the public accounts 
shall be kept and when complaints are made he sits in 
judgment on the work of the Auditors and approves or 
disapproves of their decisions. 

(4) The Manufacture of Money. — All the money in use 
is manufactured under the direction of the Treasury De- 
partment. The paper money is all printed in Washing- 
ton at the great Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where 



192 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

1000 skilled workmen and artists are constantly em- 
ployed printing and counting the millions of notes that 
are necessary to supply the country with currency. For 
the manufacture of gold and silver and other metallic 
coins the department has mints located at Philadelphia, 
New Orleans, Denver, and San Francisco. Each mint has 
its own superintendent, but all the mints are under the 
general supervision of the Director of the Mint. 

(5) The Supervision of National Banks. — ^The national 
banks of the country, more than 7000 in number, are super- 
vised by an officer of the department known as the Comp- 
troller of the Currency. No national bank can begin busi- 
ness until its plans have been submitted to the Comptroller 
and approved by him, and every bank must send to him 
at stated times reports showing the condition of its affairs. 

(6) Miscellaneous Services. — ^The Treasury Department 
performs several services that are not closely connected 
with its proper work. It has charge of the Public Health 
and Marine Hospital Service, which furnishes medical aid 
and hospital service to certain classes of seamen and which 
does what it can to prevent the spread of contagious 
diseases from State to State. It has charge of the Life 
Saving Service, which keeps along our seacoast a force of 
men ready night and day to save the lives of people on 
board vessels in distress. It also employs a Supervising 
Architect who selects the location and prepares the plans 
for the public buildings of the National Government, its 
customhouses, its post offices, its hospitals. 

The Post Office Department. — ^A walk of three minutes 



THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 193 

from the Treasury Building, passing along the far-famed 
Pennsylvania Avenue, brings one to the Post Office Build- 
ing. This is the central office of the Post Office Depart- 
ment, which collects, carries, and dehvers our mails. 
Nearly 200,000 persons — postmasters, clerks, and letter 
carriers — are employed by the Post Office Department. 

At the head of this department is the Postmaster- 
General, who is assisted in his duties by four assistant 
postmasters-general. The first assistant postmaster-gen- 
eral attends to postmasters' appointments,^ salaries, and 
the delivery of mail in cities. The second assistant attends 
to the carrying of the mails, whether on railroads, steam- 
ships, or otherwise. The third assistant supervises the 
manufacture of stamps and attends to mattery connected 
with money orders and registered mails. The fourth as- 
sistant has charge of the rural free delivery service and of 
dead letters. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Which of the executive departments of the National Govern- 
ment comes closest to the citizen in his daily life? 

2. What services does the Post Office Department render besides 
the carrying of the mails? 

3. Explain what is meant by ''Protection"; by "Free Trade." 

4. Describe the several kinds of paper money in use. The several 
kinds of metallic money. 

5. Try to get a friend who understands the subject to come before 
your class and explain the workings of national banks. 

^ He does not, however, actually appoint postmasters; only the 
President or the Postmaster-General can make appointments. 

F. Civil Govt.— 13 



XXXIV. THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPART- 
MENTS (Continued) 

The Department of the Interior employs more per- 
sons in Washington than any other department except 
the Treasury Department. Its central offices are located 
in several great buildings which stand at convenient dis- 
tances from one another. 

The Secretary of the Interior has his office in a building 
known as the Patent Office. In the Patent Office also is 
the office of the Commissioner of Patents who has charge 
of the granting of patents (p. 164) to the thousands of in- 
ventors who every year come forward with something new. 

Just across the street from the Patent Office is the fine 
building known as the Land Office. In this building are 
located two of the most important bureaus of the Interior 
Department, the General Land Office and the Office of In- 
dian Affairs. The Land Office has charge of the public 
lands owned by the United States. These lands, if we in- 
clude those owned in Alaska, have a combined area of 
nearly a million and a half square miles, an area equal to 
that of six such States as Texas. The National Govern- 
ment is all the time selling its public lands to private in- 
dividuals at very low prices, and it is through the Land 
Office that these lands are bought and that the titles to 
them are secured. The Indian Office deals with the In- 
dians of the United States. There are scattered over the 

194 



THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 



195 



country about 270,000 red men living on about 160 In- 
dian reservations which have a total area of more than 
100,000 square miles. Most of these Indians live in tribes, 
and all Indian tribes are under the control and guardian- 
ship of the United States. The National Government as 
the guardian and protector of the Indians renders them 
many services: it protects them against injustice at the 
hands of the white man; it gives them certain food supplies; 




Pension Office 

it supports schools among them. It does these things 
through the agency of the Indian Office. 

Two squares from the Patent Office is the massive Pen- 
sion Office. Here under the direction of the Commissioner 
of Pensions, an officer of the Interior Department, upwards 
of 1000 persons are employed in examining the claims for 
pensions and in awarding pensions to those who have 



196 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

fought in our wars. Through the services of this office pen- 
sions are distributed to nearly 1,000,000 old soldiers and 
old soldiers' widows. The number of pensioners, however, 
is growing smaller. 

In the Department of the Interior there are also: a Com- 
missioner of Education, who collects facts bearing upon 
the subject of education; a Director of the Geological Sur- 
vey, who inquires into and gives an account of the mineral 
resources and mineral products of the public lands; and 
a Director of the Reclamation Service, who directs the great 
work of reclaiming arid lands by irrigation and rendering 
them fit for cultivation. 

The Department of Agriculture, under the direction 
of the Secretary of Agriculture, collects and distributes 
among the people useful information on the subject of 
agriculture. For example: a certain farming community 
of one of the States was being overrun by mice; milhons 
of the little pests had suddenly appeared and were doing 
the crops great harm. The Department of Agriculture 
soon had its men on the spot trying experiments as to the 
best method of getting rid of the mice. When the agents 
of the department had learned how the mice could be most 
easily destroyed they published an account of their work 
and this account was sent to the farmers of the mouse- 
ridden district. The department, you observe, did not 
undertake to kill the mice for the farmers, but it did 
undertake to furnish them with information as to how 
they might best rid their fields of the mice. This is an 
illustration of the hundreds of ways in which the depart- 



THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 197 

ment of Agriculture helps farmers by sending out informa- 
tion. 

A most important service of the department is that per- 
formed by the Weather Bureau. This bureau studies the 
winds and the clouds and makes forecasts of the weather. 
These forecasts are made in about 200 different places lo- 
cated in all parts of the United States, the central office 
of course being in Washington. The forecasts are sent 
hither and thither by mail, by telephone, and by telegraph, 
to different points, so that the people may be warned of 
coming changes in the weather. 

The Bureau of Animal Industry is a most important 
bureau of the department. It investigates the diseases of 
cattle and horses and swine and gives information to 
farmers as to how these diseases may be prevented. It also 
has charge of the inspection of such animals, meats, and 
meat-food products as are intended for shipment from one 
State to another. 

Other bureaus of the Department of Agriculture are: 
the Bureau of Entomology, which gathers and distributes 
information regarding insects which are harmful to crops 
and trees; the Bureau of Biological Survey, which makes a 
study of birds with the view of learning what birds are 
the farmer's friends and what birds are his enemies; the 
Bureau of Plant Industry, which studies plant life, and 
distributes seeds to farmers. 

The Department of Commerce and Labor was the last 
of the great executive departments to be established; it 
was created in 1903. It is the duty of this department to 



198 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic 
commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping, and fish- 
ing industries, the labor interests, and the transportation 
facilities of the United States. 

The prominent bureaus of the department are: the 
Bureau of the Census, which takes every ten years a cen- 
sus of all the people; the Bureau of Corporations, which 
gathers for the use of the President and of Congress infor- 
mation about the great business concerns that are engaged 
in commerce between the States; the Bureau of Labor, 
which gathers information concerning the wages, the hours 
of labor, and the living conditions of workingmen; the 
Bureau of Fisheries, which propagates useful food fishes, 
and lobsters, oysters, and other shellfish. 

Executive Work Outside the Departments. — Some of 
the work of the National Government has not been brought 
under the supervision of any of the nine great departments. 
The Interstate Commerce Commission is outside the control 
of any department. This body is composed of seven mem- 
bers appointed by the President at a salary of $10,000 per 
year. The duty of the commission is to exercise a certain 
control over railroads carrying freight and passengers from 
one State to another. It requires that the railroads in 
their charges for carrying passengers and freight shall not 
charge one person more for a given service than is charged 
another person for the same service. The commission 
also, upon the complaint of a passenger or shipper of goods, 
may do away with a passenger or freight rate which it 
regards as unjust or unreasonable and may fix a new rate 



THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 



199 



which it regards as just and reasonable. This power of 
the commission over railroad rates makes it one of the 
most important agencies of the National Government. 

Outside of any department also are: The Civil Service 
Commission, consisting of three members whose duties 
have been described (p. 180) ; the great Government Print- 
ing Office, where un- 
der the direction of 
the Public Printer 
nearly 5000 persons 
are constantly em- 
ployed in printing 
and binding count- 
less documents for 
the National Gov- 
ernment; the Smith- 
sonian Institution, 
which carries on 
scientific experi- 
ments and which 
has charge of the 
National Museum 
and the Zoological 
Gardens. 

Last, but not least, the Library of Congress is outside the 
control of any department. This library at first was in- 
tended simply for the personal use of members of Congress, 
but it has become a national institution and its 2,000,000 
volumes are at the service of the people of the United 




An Alcove in the Congressional Library 



200 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

States. The collection has been housed in a building of 
surpassing beauty, and scholars and readers from all 
parts of the country can be found in its alcoves availing 
themselves of its precious treasures. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Of the nine executive departments of the National Government 
which renders the most important service? Which stands second in 
the importance of the service it renders? Which stands third? Which 
fourth? 

2. To what department or bureau would you take each of the follow- 
ing matters: 

(a) A claim for a pension. 

(6) A claim for a tract of public land. 

(c) An application for a patent. 

{d) An application for information concerning admission to the Naval 

Academy. 
(e) A request for information regarding the best method of curing a 

disease in cattle. 
(/) A complaint in respect to a freight rate. 



XXXV. TERRITORIES AND DEPENDENCIES 

Introduction. — ^The National Government has always 
had under its control large areas of territory that have 
been governed entirely according to the wishes of Con- 
gress. At the beginning of our national history the great 
Northwest Territory, out of which have been carved Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minne- 
sota, was governed by Congress. The great region known 
as Louisiana, which was purchased from France in 1803 
and which gave to the Union a dozen States, was at first 
governed as a territory dependent upon Congress. In 
fact, of the thirty-three admitted States all but six — 
Vermont, Kentucky, Maine, Texas, California, and West 
Virginia — were governed by Congress as Territories before 
they came into the Union as States. 

The Organized Territories. — Congress has provided simi- 
lar forms of government for Arizona, New Mexico, and 
Hawaii. Each has a Governor appointed by the President 
for a term of four j^ears; each has a secretary also ap- 
pointed by the President; each has an elective Legislature 
resembling that of a State Legislature; each has a system 
of local government resembling that found in the States; 
each has a number of territorial judges appointed by the 
President; each sends to the House of Representatives at 
Washington a delegate who has a right to speak but who 

has not the right to vote. Although the Legislature of 

201 



202 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

each of these Territories is elected by the people, yet the 
Governor has a veto upon all bills and that veto cannot 
be overruled by the Legislature as it can in the States. 
The Governor can thus prevent the passage of any law. 
In respect to laws that have already been enacted Con- 
gress has complete power; it can at any time do away with 
any law that the Legislature has passed. In this way the 
National Government keeps a firm hand upon these three 
Territories. 

Alaska. — ^The vast region of Alaska came to us in 1867 
by purchase from Russia. It is governed by Congress 
somewhat in the way the three Territories mentioned 
above are governed. It has a Governor, a secretary, and 
judges who are all appointed by the President. It has, 
however, no Legislature, the laws governing it being 
enacted directly by Congress. It has a delegate in the 
House of Representatives. 

Our Island Possessions. — ^Through the war with Spain 
in 1898 the United States gained possession of Porto Rico 
and the Philippine Islands. The duty of governing these 
islands rests upon Congress. For Porto Rico Congress 
has provided a Governor, a secretary, an attorney-general, 
a treasurer, an auditor, a commissioner of the interior, and 
a commissioner of education, all to be appointed by the 
President and all to hold their office for a term of four 
years. This executive department, it will be noticed, re- 
sembles very closely the executive department of a State 
government. The Legislature of Porto Rico has two 
branches. The lower branch is elected by the people, but 



TERRITORIES AND DEPENDENCIES 203 

the upper branch consists not of elected representatives, 
but of eleven appointed members, including the six execu- 
tive officers below the Governor and five other persons also 
appointed by the President. The principal judges of the 
island are appointed by the President. Porto Rico has no 
delegate in Congress, but it sends to Washington a commis- 
sioner who by the grace of the House of Representatives 
is permitted to speak in that body.^ For all practical 
purposes, therefore, the commissioner in reality has as 
much power as a delegate from a Territory. 

For the government of the Philippine Islands Congress 
has created an executive department consisting of a Gov- 
ernor-General, a secretary of the interior, a secretary of 
commerce and police, a secretary of finance a|^d justice, 
and a secretary of public instruction, all to be appointed 
by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The 
Legislature of the islands is almost precisely like that 
provided for Porto Rico: the lower house is elected by the 
people and the upper house consists of the executive offi- 
cers named above and four members appointed by the 
President. The Philippine Islands send two commissioners 
to Washing-ton. 

Although Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands belong 
to the United States, the people of those islands are not 
citizens of the United States and do not enjoy all the 
rights and privileges of American citizenship. It is the 
policy of the National Government, however, to treat 
these people fairly, and as a matter of fact they enjoy 
most of th€ civil rights that Americans enjoy. 



204 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

The District of Columbia. — Under the Articles of Con- 
federation Congress had no fixed home and at times it 
was treated badly in the places in which it held its ses- 
sions. It will be remembered that in Philadelphia Con- 
gress was once attacked by a crowd of drunken soldiers. 
The framers of the Constitution provided that the Na- 
tional Government should have a district (not exceeding 
ten miles square) for its permanent home and that in this 
district Congress should have complete control. In 1790 
a tract of land on the Potomac River was chosen as the 
site for the new seat of government and was named the 
District of Columbia. 

Congress has governed the District of Columbia now in 
one way, now in another. At present (1908) the District is 
governed by a Board of Commissioners appointed by the 
President. These Commissioners act as an executive body 
to do the will of Congress, which makes the laws of the 
District. Judges of the courts of the District are appointed 
by the President. Since the District of Columbia is prac- 
tically the city of Washington the District government 
is a city government with the usual departments of serv- 
ice that must be rendered by a city (p. 113). 

In the management of the affairs of their city the people 
of Washington have no responsibility whatever and no 
power whatever. The District of Columbia has no dele- 
gate in Congress, or commissioner, or representative of 
any kind. Of all the dependencies of the United States 
the District is the only one in which there is no provision 
whatever for the expression of the popular will. The in- 



TERRITORIES AND DEPENDENCIES 205 

habitants, however, are of course citizens of the United 
States. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Prepare a table showing the population and area of each of the 
Territories and dependencies and give the total. 

2. Of our Territories and dependencies name those that are likely 
to become States. 

3. If you lived in the city of Washington do you think you would 
like the way it is governed? 

4. Give an account of the government of Guam; of Samoa. 

5. Write a composition on the city of Washington, describing its 
location, its streets, its buildings, and its attractions. 



XXXVI. THE NATIONAL COURTS 

" The Supreme Court is the living voice of the Constitution, that is, 
of the will of the people expressed in the fundamental law they have 
enacted. It is the conscience of the people who have resolved to re- 
strain themselves from hasty or unjust action by placing their repre- 
sentatives under the restriction of a permanent law." — James Bryce. 

The Kind of Cases Tried in the National Courts.— The 
third article of the Constitution describes the powers and 
the nature of the judicial department of the National Gov- 
ernment. 

The courts of a ^tate try those cases that arise under 
the laws and constitution of the State, while the courts 
of the National Government try those cases that arise under 
the Constitution of the United States, and the laws passed 
by Congress. A man charged with the crime of burglary 
would be tried in one of the courts of the State in which 
the crime was committed; for the laws against burglary 
are passed by the Legislatures of the States. A man charged 
with counterfeiting money would be tried in one of the 
national courts; for the laws against counterfeiting are 
passed by Congress. A person charged with breaking a 
street lamp would be tried in a State court, for his offense 
concerns a State; but a person charged with robbing a 
letter box attached to a lamp-post, would be tried in a 
court of the United States, for his offense concerns the 
National Government. 

Again, the national courts may try those cases that arise 

206 



THE NATIONAL COURTS 207 

between citizens of different States, if either party to the 
case so desires. Also when a dispute arises between two 
States, it is settled, not in a State court, but in the national 
court. If such a case were left to the courts of one of the 
States to be decided, the other State, if the decision went 
against it, would in all probability be dissatisfied. 

Still another class of cases tried in the national courts 
consists of those in which one of the parties is a foreigner. 
If a foreign country has a grievance against a citizen or 
against one of the States it may try its case in the courts of 
the United States, for the nation and not the State is re- 
sponsible to foreign governments. Likewise, if a citizen 
or a State has a grievance against a citizen of another 
country, the suit may be brought in a national court. In 
the case of ambassadors and their families and attendants, 
when any trouble arises, the matter must be taken directly 
to the Supreme Court of the United States. Under this 
rule, if a servant of an ambassador should steal a pound of 
sugar or should be charged with disorderly conduct, his 
case would have to be tried before the Highest court of the 
United States. This great respect is shown to foreign 
ministers in order to avoid giving offense to the govern- 
ments which they represent. 

The Four Grades of National Courts. — For the trial 
of such cases as have just been mentioned, the government 
of the United States supports a system of courts somewhat 
similar to those supported by a State. The judges of all 
these courts are appointed by the President and they all 
hold their office for life. . 



208 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

The lowest court of the system is the (1) District 
Court, ^ which is presided over by a District Judge. 
In every State there is at least one District Court. 
The larger and more populous States have two or more 
District Courts; altogether there are more than eighty 
District Judges in the United States. These lowest courts 
try all crimes committed against the United States, except 
those punishable by death, and they try such civil cases 
as may properly be tried in national courts. When a 
case has been tried in the District Court and either of 
the parties to the case is not satisfied with the result, it may 
be taken, that is, appealed, either to the Supreme Court 
of the United States, or to the Circuit Court of Appeals, 
a court established in 1891 to do part of the heavy work 
of the Supreme Court. An appealed case is carried to the 
Supreme Court (a) when it involves a question of jurisdic- 
tion, that is, a question as to what court the case ought 
to be tried in; (h) when it involves the construction of the 
Constitution of the United States; (c) when it involves a 
question of the constitutionality of a law, that is, whether 
the law, State or national, agrees with the Constitution of 
the United States; (d) when it is a case of conviction for 
some great crime; (e) when it involves the construction of a 
treaty. In other cases than those mentioned, an appeal 
must be taken from the District Court to the Circuit Court 
of Appeals. 

^ The pupil should be careful not to confuse the District and Cir- 
cuit Courts of the National system with those courts of the same name 
in the State system. 



THE NATIONAL COURTS 209 

Next to the District Court is the (2) Circuit Courtj 
which may be presided over by the District Judge, by a 
Circuit Judge, by a Justice of the Supreme Court, or by 
two of these men together. The whole United States is 
divided into nine circuits, and each circuit has two or more 
Circuit Judges and one Justice of the Supreme Court. 
Circuit Courts try those civil cases where a sum of money 
greater than $500 is involved. They also try those suits 
that arise under patent and copyright laws. An appeal 
from a decision in a Circuit Court is governed by the rules 
that are followed in an appeal from the District Court; 
sometimes it will be taken to the Supreme Court, some- 
times to the Circuit Court of Appeals. The Circuit Court 
itself never hears appeals. ^ 

In each of the nine circuits there is a (3) Circuit Court 
of Appeals. This court consists of three judges selected 
from the Circuit Judges and the District Judges within 
the circuit, except that one of the three may be the Jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court who is assigned to the circuit. 
A judge, however, who has tried a case in the District or 
Circuit Court cannot sit at the trial of the same case in the 
Circuit Court of Appeals. It is a general rule of justice 
that a judge who has taken part at the trial of a case in 
a lower court cannot take part in the trial of the same case 
in an upper court. The Circuit Court of Appeals tries 
only those cases that are brought to it upon appeal from 
the District Court and the Circuit Court. 
The highest court in the United States system is the (4) 

Supreme Court, which sits at Washington. It consists of 
F. Civil Govt.— 14 



210 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 



a chief justice and eight associate justices. In cases af- 
fecting ambassadors and consuls, and those in which a 
State is a party, it has original jurisdiction. This means 
that these cases must be tried for the first time in the Su- 
preme Court. The chief business of this great court, how- 
ever, is to try the cases that are appealed to it from the 
lower courts. The Supreme Court is the most exalted and 
in some respects the most powerful body in the United 




Supreme Court in Session 

States. It acts as the guardian of the Constitution. If 
Congress or the Legislature of a State passes a law that 
conflicts with the Constitution of the United States, it de- 
clares that law null and void. If a State Court renders a 
decision that conflicts with the Constitution or with a law 
of the United States, the Supreme Court may overrule 
the decision. It may pass judgment upon all questions 
of law or of fact that are appealed to it and that it chooses 
to consider. 



THE NATIONAL COURTS 211 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Name three of the most important decisions that have been made 
by the Supreme Court in the history of our country. 

2. Name two of the most celebrated men who have served as Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court. 

3. Study the third article of the Constitution for answers to the 
following questions: 

(a) How long does a judge of a federal court hold office? 

(b) Can Congress reduce the salaries of the present judges? 

(c) In what court would a charge against a consul of a foreign coun- 

try be brought? 

(d) In what court would a man be tried for robbing a post office? 

(e) In what court would a suit between a State and a citizen of a for- 

eign country be tried? 

4. Use the words ''State" and "federal" properly in the following 
passage : 

There are less than a hundred and fifty judges, and there are 

many thousands of judges. "A large majority of tl^ cases at law 

are tried in courts. If only laws are involved in the case, the 

courts can have nothing to do with it. Ordinary crimes, such as 

assaults, theft, and murder, can be tried only in courts. In like 

manner nearly all cases arising in the administration of school laws, 
laws concerning paupers, highways, taxation, the laws for the gov- 
ernment of cities and the holding of elections, are triable in the 

courts alone. It is only when some provision of the constitution, 

or some act of the United States Government is involved that a 

court can act." — Macy. 



XXXVII. TAXATION: THE PROPERTY TAX 



"Taxation without representation is injustice and oppression." 

— Burke. 



Introduction. — The expenses of government amount 
to a vast sum of money. The salaries of officers and 
employees have to be paid, large public buildings have 
to be erected, roads and streets have to be built and kept 
in repair, a costly system of public schools has to be sup- 
ported, vast fleets and armies have to be maintained. 
The money necessary to pay for all this comes from the 
pockets of citizens in the form of taxes. In this lesson 
and in the next you are to learn how government exercises 
the power of taxation, how it compels citizens to con- 
tribute money for the support of government 

Taxation a Power of the Lawmaking Department.^ 
Which of the three great departments of government has 
the power of taxation? This power belongs to the law- 
making department and to it alone. A Mayor, a Gov- 
ernor, a President, a Judge, cannot raise a single penny 
by taxation. Americans will pay only such taxes as they 
themselves in person have agreed to pay or such as their 
representatives in a legislature or lawmaking body have 
ordered to be paid. The City Council levies the city tax, 
the State Legislature levies the State tax, and Congress 

levies taxes for the support of the National Government. 

212 



THE PROPERTY TAX 213 

Not only does the lawmaking branch have the power 
of raising money by taxation, but it also has the power 
of directing how that money shall be spent. The executive 
branch, it is true, actually spends the money raised by 
taxation, but it must spend this money precisely as the 
legislature directs. The legislature orders a certain sum 
of money to be collected from the people and placed in 
the pubKc treasury and then it prescribes the manner 
in which that money is to be taken out and spent. Thu^ 
the power of the purse is given outright to the legislative 
department. In our study of the powers of government 
few facts have greater importance than this. 

The Property Tax. — ^A very large part of the money 
raised by taxation is collected from property owners who 
are compelled to pay the tax because they are property 
owners. The rule followed in laying taxes on property 
is this: The more property a man owns the greater must 
be his share of the tax. 

For purposes of taxation property is regarded as being 
of two kinds: (1) real ^property, which includes lands and 
buildings on land, and (2) personal property, which in- 
cludes such things as household furniture, money, goods, 
bonds, stocks, mortgages, jewels, horses, carriages, and 
farming implements. 

In most of the States there are certain kinds of prop- 
erty that are free from the burden of taxation. Thus, 
churches, cemeteries, schoolhouses, free libraries, charitable 
institutions, and all public buildings, are exempt from 
taxation. Likewise, in many States, household furniture 



214 TAXATION 

worth no more than two or three hundred dollars is not 
taxed. 

How Each Taxpayer's Share is Determined. — A tax 

collector presents to your father a tax bill, calling for, let 
us say, $33.50. How was this bill made out? How was 
it determined that your father should pay to the support 
of the government just $33.50, no more, no less? Let us 
try to get an answer to this question. 

Let us suppose that you live in a town, and that it is 
your town government that has sent the bill. The first 
step taken is to determine how much money is needed. 
It is found that the town needs 

For its schools, police, streets, waterworks, and other ex- 
penses of Town Government $40,000 

For taxes due to the County Government 6,000 

For taxes due to the State Government 4,000 

Total amount of taxes to be raised $50,000 

This $50,000 must be paid by the property owners of 
the town. In order to distribute the burden fairly, one 
or more Assessors visit all the houses and places of 
business in the town, and place upon every man's prop- 
erty what they think is a fair valuation. Thus they 
find that A has a house worth $3000 and furniture worth 
$500, or property worth in all $3500. B is found to own a 
factory worth $75,000 and goods worth $25,000. He is, 
therefore, assessed at $100,000. C owns building lots 
worth $2000 and horses and carriages v/orth $500. C's 
property, therefore, is put down on the Assessors' list at 
$2500. D owns a little house which the Assessor thinks 



THE PROPERTY TAX 215 

is worth $400; his furniture is so scanty that no value is 
put upon it, and it escapes taxation. Your father's prop- 
erty, we will suppose, is placed on the Assessors' list at 
$1675. In this way the value of the property of every 
taxpayer in town is estimated by the Assessors and put 
upon the assessment Hst. By adding together the fortunes 
of A, B, C, D, etc., the entire value of all the property in 
the town is found. Let us suppose that this amounts to 
$2,500,000. You remember that the amount to be raised 
by taxation is $50,000. Now if property worth $2,500,000 
must pay $50,000 in taxes, property worth one dollar 
must pay two cents in taxes. Every man in the town, 
therefore, must pay two cents in taxes for every dollar's 
worth of property he owns. This two cents, ^r 2%, or .02 
is called the rate of taxation. 

A will pay . . $ 3,500 X .02 . . $ 70.00 in taxes, 
B will pay . . 100,000 X .02 . . 2000.00 in taxes. 

You now see why your father's tax bill is $33.50. 

The Collection of Taxes. — ^After the tax bills are made 
out, the Tax Collector collects the taxes from the owners 
of property and turns it over to the treasury of the town 
government. The Town Treasurer sends to the County 
Treasurer the share that belongs to the county, and to 
the State Treasurer the share that belongs to the State, 
and retains what is left for the expenses of the town gov- 
ernment. 

When a man refuses or neglects to pay his tax, the 
law will compel him to pay. The Tax Collector must 
collect the taxes, even if he is obliged to sell the property 



216 TAXATION 

to get them. When land is sold for taxes, the owner may 
regain the land by paying to the purchaser within a speci- 
fied time the amount of the taxes with interest. 



QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. When a property owner thinks his property has been assessed too 
high, he may complain to the Assessors, and if these officers think his 
complaint is just, they will reduce the assessment. Suppose the owner 
thinks his property has been assessed too low; should he go to the 
Assessors and request them to make the assessment larger? If a man 
should send you a bill for three dollars when you know you owe him 
five dollars, would you call his attention to the mistake? Should we 
be as honest with the government as we are with our neighbors? 

2. How is the money for the support of your school raised? Who is 
the largest taxpayer in your school district? Does he get more benefit 
from the government than any other man in the district? 

3. Name some of the returns taxpayers get for the money they pay 
to the government. 

4r Is wheat in a barn real property or personal property? 

5. What is the tax rate in your town? In your county? In your 
State? 

6. Name the kinds of property in your State that are exempt from 
taxation. (Examine your State constitution.^ 



XXXVIIL OTHER TAXES 

" The taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the govern- 
ment were the only ones we had to pay we might more easily discharge 
them; but we have many others. We are taxed twice as much by our 
idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much 
by our folly." — Benjamin Franklin. 

The Income Tax. — Besides the general property tax, 
there are several other kinds of taxes. Important among 
these is the income tax. An income tax is laid upon a 
man's salary, or upon the profits of his business, without 
reference to the amount of property he own^ A certain 
rate is determined upon by the government, and every 
man must pay according to his income. If the rate is 3%, 
and a man's salary or the profit of his business is $3000, 
then he must pay $90 as his income tax. In a ^progressive 
or graduated income tax the rate grows larger with the 
income. Thus the rate might be 3% for all incomes under 
$5000; 4% for all incomes between $5000 and $10,000; 
5% for all incomes between $10,000 and $50,000; 8% for 
incomes between $50,000 and $100,000; 10% for all in- 
comes over $100,000. Do you think a progressive income 
tax is just? If a man with an income of $2000 a year has 
to pay a tax of $60, which is fairer for a man with $20,000 
a year income— to pay $600 or $1000? 

The Inheritance Tax is laid on property which a person 
receives as an inheritance from parents or other relatives 

217 



218 TAXATION 

or which is left to a person by a will. Where there is an 
inheritance tax children or relatives must pay the tax 
before they can take possession of the property left them 
by their parents or other kinsmen. The rate of the in- 
heritance tax is often progressive or graduated, that is, 
the larger the inheritance the greater the rate of tax. 
The rate is often less for near relatives than for other 
people. Inheritance taxes are collected in three-fourths 
of the States. 

Licenses ; Fees. — A license is a privilege granted by a 
government permitting one to engage in a certain occupa- 
tion or to perform a certain act. For granting a license 
the government usually charges a sum of money. The liquor 
license permits the holder to sell liquor; the merchant's 
license permits the sale of goods; the marriage license 
permits the marriage of the couple to whom it is granted. 
A fee is a small sum paid to an officer of the government 
for the performance of some public service. Thus if you 
wish to get a deed to land properly recorded, you will 
have to pay the recording officer a small fee. 

Poll Tax. — ^This word 'poll means head; a poll tax, 
therefore, is a tax upon the man and not upon property. 
It is usually a small sum. A male citizen above the age 
of twenty-one must pay this tax, although he has no 
property at all. Not all the States have a poll tax, but 
usually where there is such a tax, it must be paid before 
the citizen is allowed to vote. The poll tax is not popular 
in the United States, and in some of the States it is for- 
bidden entirely. 



OTHER TAXES 219 

The Franchise Tax. — A franchise is a special privilege 
given by government to a person or to a body of persons. 
For example, the right to use the streets of a city for a 
railway is a franchise; the right to lay pipes for supplying 
a city with gas is a franchise. Such franchises as these 
are sometimes extremely valuable. For example, here is 
a street railway company whose cars and rails and wires 
and power houses are w^orth a million dollars but whose 
franchise — the right to use the streets — ^is worth two 
millions of dollars. In some States such a company would 
pay two taxes, a property tax on the power houses, cars, 
etc., and a franchise tax for the privilege of using the 
streets. 

Duties and Excises. — ^The taxes thus far^ described, 
the property tax, the income tax, the inheritance tax, 
and the franchise tax, are usually collected for the sup- 
port of town, city, county, and State governments. But 
the great government of the United States which has its 
seat at Washington must also be supported. And it takes 
an immense sum of money to support our National Gov- 
ernment. The salaries of several hundred thousand offi- 
cials and the pensions of about a million old soldiers 
and soldiers' widows must be paid; costly public build- 
ings in Washington and custom houses and post offices in 
large cities must be built; expensive warships and forti- 
fications must be maintained; an army and a navy must 
be supported. To do all this requires over S600,000,000 
a year. For the support of the National Government 
Congress orders the collection of duties or excises. 



220 TAXATION 

A duty is a tax or tariff laid upon goods that are im- 
ported into this country from foreign countries. This 
tax is paid to government officers by the merchant who 
imports the goods. But the merchant does not bear the 
burden of the tax. If he is compelled to pay a duty of 75 
cents per yard upon silk which he imports from France, 
this 75 cents is added to the first cost. If, without a duty, 
he could sell his customers French silk for $1.50 per yard 
at a profit of 10%, with a duty of 75 cents, he sells them the 
silk for $2.32 per yard. It is, therefore, the customers 
who pay this duty, or tax. 

Excises are taxes paid by manufacturers upon goods 
made in this country. Thus the taxes upon liquors, to- 
bacco, and cigars are excises. An excise tax, like a duty, 
is paid by one person, but the burden is usually shifted 
to another. If a tobacco manufacturer is compelled to 
pay a tax of 50 cents upon every box of cigars he makes, 
he counts this as a part of the cost, and charges his cus- 
tomers accordingly. 

Duties and excises are called indirect taxes, because 
the real burden of these taxes does not fall directly upon 
the people who pay them, but indirectly upon some one 
else. Excises and duties are laid upon such articles as 
beer, tobacco, sugar, tea, coffee, woolen goods, cotton 
goods, leather, iron, tin, etc. From this we see that every- 
body who wears clothes and consumes food, that is, the 
whole population, contributes something to the support 
of the National Government. 

Eminent Domain. — Closely related to the govern- 



OTHER TAXES 221 

merit's right of taxation, is its right of ''eminent domain." 
By this is meant its right to take private property for 
pubhc uses. If the government wishes to use your house 
for a post office, or if it desires to run a street through 
your garden, or a road through your field, you have not 
the power to prevent it. Yet the government must pay 
you a fair price for your property, and it must not compel 
you to part with it unless it can be shown that it is for 
the pubhc good that you should do so. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Do all citizens have to pay taxes? Think well before you answer 
this question. 

2. What kind of taxes are paid without those who pay them seem- 
ing to know it? What kind of taxes do they pay most Aeerfully? 

3. Has taxation ever been a cause of war? 

4. How are churches supported? 

5. How are duties collected? 

6. Is a poll tax a just tax? Is there a poll tax in your State? 

7. What is meant by "smuggling"? 

8. Is an income tax that exempts all incomes under $1000 just? 

9. For what do people pay taxes most cheerfully? 
10. How may a city acquire land for a park? 



INDEX 



Agrieulture, Department of, 178; 

organization of, 196. 
Alaska, 202. 
Aliens, 34, 48. 
Ambassadors, 183. 
Amendment to Constitution, of 

State, 123; of United States, 155. 
Anarchists, 36. 

Animal Industry, Bureau of, 197. 
Articles of Confederation, 151. 
Assembly, right of, 42. 
Assessors, 90, 97, 101, 214. 
Attainder, bill of, 166. 
Attendance of pupils, 29. 
Attorney-General, of State, 141; of 

the United States, 188. 
Auditors, of county, 90; of State, 

141; of township, 101. 
"Australian System," 51. 

Bail, 44, 145. 

Ballot, 50-52. 

Banks, supervision of, 192. 

Biological Survey, Bureau of, 197. 

Bonds, 162. 

Boroughs, 105. 

Bribery, 52. 

Cabinet meetings, 178. 

Census, Bureau of, 198. 

Charter, the municipal, 105-107. 

Checks and balances, 73-78. 

Children, 20-22. 

Chinese, 36. 

Circuit Court, of State, 145; of 
United States, 209. 

Circuit Court of Appeals, 209. 

Citizen, meaning of word, 33. 

Citizenship, 33-59. 

City charter, 106. 

City Council, 109-112. 

Civil cases, 149. 

Civil rights, 37-45. 

Civil service, of the National Gov- 
ernment, 179. 

Civil Service Commission, 179. 

Clerk, of county court, 89; of town, 
97; of township, 101. 

Commerce, regulation of, 162. 

Commerce and Labor, Department 
of, 178, 197. 



Committees, legislative, 129. 
Common Pleas, Court of, 145. 
Comptroller, State, 141. 
Comptroller of the Treasury, 191. 
Confederation, Articles of, 151. 
Congress, powers of, 162-167; the 

two houses of, 156; what it may 

not do, 166-167. 
Constables, 97, 101. 
Constitution, meaning of the word, 

120; of State, 120-124; of the 

United States, 153-155. 
Constitutional Convention, State, 

122. 
Constitutional Convention of 1787, 

152. 
Constitutions, how changed, 123; 

how made, 122. 
Construction and Repair, Bureau of, 

186. 
Consuls, 184. 

Conventions, party, 169-171. 
Copyrignt, 163. 
Coroner, 89. 

Corporations, Bureau of, 198. 
Counterfeiting, 163. 
County, 85-91. 
County Commissioners, 87. 
Court-martial, 186. 
Courts, National, 206-210; four 

grades of, 207-210; kind of cases 

tried in, 206, 207. 
Courts, State, 144-149. 
Criminal cases, 149. 
Criminals not allowed to vote, 48. 
Customs duties, 190. 

Declaration of Rights, 121. 

Defendant, 148. 

Defense of country, 56. 

Democracy, a government of justice, 
65; a government of reason, 62- 
65; defined, 62; pure, 67; repre- 
sentative, 67. 

Departments of government, the 
three great, 73-77; independence 
of, 77. 

Departments of the National Gov- 
ernment, the nine executive, 176- 
178. 

Dependencies, 202. 



222 



INDEX 



223 



District Attorney, of the county, 
88; of the United States, 207. 

District Court, State, 145; United 
States, 208. 

District of Columbia, 165, 204. 

Due process of law, 44. 

Duties, of citizens, 55-59; of teach- 
ers and pupils, 29-32 ; of voters, 58. 

Duties, on exports, 167; on imports, 
220. 

Education, 21, 48; National Com- 
missioner of, 196. 

Elections, 50-54. 

Electors, presidential, 171-173. 

Eminent domain, 220. 

Engraving and Printing, Bureau of, 
192. 

Entomology, Bureau of, 197. 

Equipment, Bureau of, 187. 

Ex post facto law, 166 

Excises, 220. 

Family, 19-23. 

Fees, 218. 

Fisheries, Bureau of, 198. 

Franchise Tax, 219. 

General Staff, 185. 

Geological Survey, 196. 

Government, democratic, 62; mean- 
ing of the word, 1 1 ; representa- 
tive, 68; the services of, 13, 83; 
the three grades of, 80. 

Government Printing Office, 199. 

Governor, 133, 138-140. 

Habeas Corpus, 38, 166. 

House of Representatives, National, 

156-158; State, 76. 
Husband and wife, 19. 

Idiots, 48. 

Imbeciles, 48. 

Impeachment, 142. 

Inauguration, 173. 

Income tax, 217. 

Indian Affairs, Office of, 194. 

Inheritance Tax, 217. 

Initiative and referendum, 133- 

134. 
Interstate Commerce Commission, 

162, 198. 

Japanese, 36. 

Judge Advocate-General, 186. 

Judicial Department, 74. 

Jury, 44; grand, 146; petit, 147. 



Justice, Department of, 188. 
Justice of the Peace, 101, 144. 

Labor, Bureau of, 198. 

Land Office, 194. 

Laws, 13, 55; how made, 131-133, 
159. 

Legislative Department, 74-76. 

Legislature, State, branches of, 126; 
election of members of, 127; or- 
ganization of, 128; when it meets, 
125. 

Library of Congress, 199. 

Licenses, 218. 

Lieutenant Governor, 129, 140. 

Life-saving Service, 192. 

Local self-government, 80-84. 

Lunatics, 48. 

Majority, 53; rule of the, 60-66; tyr- 
anny of, 65. 

Marque and reprisal, 164. 

Marriage, 19. 

Marshal, 188. 

Mayor, 112. 

Message, of Governor, 139; of the 
President, 175. 

Military Academj^, 1^. 

Militia, 165, 185. 

Ministers, 183. 

Mints-, 192. 

Moderator, 95. 

Money, 163, 191. 

Municipal Government, 103-114; 
services of, 113. 

Naturalization, 35, 163. 
Naval Academy, 186. 
Navy, Department of, 177; organ- 
ization of, 186. 
NobiUty, title of, 167. 

Office, right of holding, 53. 
Ordnance, Bureau of, 187. 
Ordnance, Chief of, 186. 
Overseers of the poor, 97, 101. 

Pardon of criminals, 139, 175. 
Parents and children, 20-22. 
Patent Office, 194. 
Patents, 163. 
Paupers, 49. 
Pensions, 195. 
People, power of, 60. 
Personal liberty, 38. 
Personal security, 37. 
Petition, right of, 43. 
Pliilippine Islands, 203. 



224 



INDEX 



Piracy, 164. 

Plaintiff, 148. 

Plant Industry, Bureau of, 197. 

Plurality, 53. 

Political rights, 46. 

Poll tax, 47, 167, 218. 

Polls, the, 51. 

Porto Rico, 202, 

Ports of entry, 190. 

Post Office Department, 177; or- 
ganization of, 193. 

Post Offices, 163. 

President of the United States, 36; 
election of, 171-174; nomination 
of candidate for, 168-171; powers 
and duties of, 175-177; who shall 
succeed, 165. 

Press, right of freedom of, 42. 

Primary election, 170. 

Probate court, 90. 

Property, 39, 47. 

Property tax, 213. 

Prosecuting attorney, 88, 146. 

Protection, right of, 43, 45. 

Pupils, rules governing, 28-29; du- 
ties of, 29-30. 

Quartermaster-General, 185. 

"Recall," 72. 

Reclamation Service, 196. 

Recorder of deeds, 90. 

Register of deeds, 90. 

Register of the Treasury, 191. 

Registrars, 49. 

Registration, 49. 

Religious freedom, 41. 

Representation, rule for, 71. 

Representatives, how apportioned, 
71 ; in Congress, 156-158; in the 
State Legislature, 127; short terms 
of, 69. 

Residence of voters, 47. 

Rights, civil, 37-45; political, 46. 

Salaries, 180. 

School government, 24-32. 

School officers, 25, 

Secretary of State, 140, 177. 

Selectmen, 96. 

Self-control, 15-17. 

Senate, 76; of State, 126; of United 

States, 158-159. 
Sergeant-at-arms, 128. 
Sheriff, 88. 
Slavery, 166. 
Smithsonian Institution, 199. 



Solicitor, city, 103; county, 88. 

Speaker, 128, 158. 

Speech, freedom of, 41. 

State, Department of, 177; organiza- 
tion of, 182-185. 

State, the, 116-119. 

States, the admitted, 118; the origi- 
nal, 118. 

Suffrage, 46-48; woman, 47. 

Superintendent of schools, county, 
91; State, 141. 

Supervisors, county, 87; township, 
100. 

Supreme Court, of State, 148; of 
the United States, 209. 

Tardiness, 28. 

Tax collectors, 97, 215. 

Taxation, a power of the lawmak- 
ing department, 212; women rep- 
resented in matters of, 47. 

Taxes, direct, 167; franchise, 219; 
how taxpayer's share of is deter- 
mined, 214; income, 217; poll, 
218; property, 213. 

Teacher, 26, 31. 

Territories, 201-202. 

Town, government, 93-98; meet- 
ing, 95; officers, 96. 

Township, government, 99-102; 
meetings, 100; officers of, 100. 

Treasurer, of county, 90; of State, 
141 ; of town, 97. 

Treaties, 175. 

Truancy, 29. 

United States, a representative 
democracy, 68. 

Veto, power of, 76. 

Vice President of the United States, 

36. 
Village, 105. 
Voters, duties of, 59; qualifications 

of, 46-48. 

War, Department of, 177; organ- 
ization of, 185-186. 
War College, 186. 
Washington (City), 204. 
Weather Bureau, 197. 
Weights and measures, 163. 
Wife, 19. 
Women as voters, 47. 

Yards and Docks, Bureau of, 186. 



fll 



5 1909 



